Legacy
by Belmione
Summary: Because Bei Fongs are tough, use restraint, wait and listen, before they strike and strike hard. Bei Fongs don't back down, give all of themselves, never give up, are there to protect. Bei Fongs protect the ones they love. Bei Fongs survive, sacrifice. And Bei Fongs know when it's time to leave. And Lin knows it is her time. Lin reflects on her relationship with her mother.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hi all! So I posted this last night all in one go. And tonight thought, you know, this is kind of WAY too lengthy to be posted in one big chapter. So I've now decided to split it up and it'll be a multichap. A few were lucky enough to catch it before I split it all up, haha. But you can expect regular updates as the thing is largely complete. So this is about Lin's relationship with her mother. Hope you all enjoy!**_

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**_

Lin thinks of her mother constantly. She always has. She has always possessed a secret, smug pride about her mother, not that she'd ever show it like she used to when she was young. Being the Chief of Police requires, or _required_, a touch more restraint and gravitas. But it is the thought of her mother, her pig-headed, boisterous, joking, fighting whirlwind of a mother that puts the steel in her spine, the stone in her expression, the flint in her eyes. She raised Lin that way. From the time Lin could barely walk, she knew what it meant to be a Bei Fong.

Her mother would regale her with tales of her war-time adventures with her Uncle Aang, Uncle Sokka, and Aunt Katara. She would sit in a loose semi-circle with her friends, with her cousins Kya, Bumi, and Tenzin. Her mother and Uncle Sokka were the ringleaders, relaying their stories with exaggerated detail, punctuated by a sweet comment form her placid Uncle Aang, and an occasional visit back to reality from Aunt Katara. Mostly, though, her mother and Uncle Sokka bickered over details. Usually, this ended in a strong slug from her mother to Uncle Sokka's arm, and the debate ended right there.

Even at a young age, discriminating Lin knew her mother had a penchant for exaggeration. But she also knew, from the look on her Aunt and Uncles' faces that, even as much of a braggart as she was, her mother's stories were never too far from the truth. She could tell that her demand for recognition and admiration, her insistence that she was an earthbending genius, the greatest earthbender to have ever lived, was _warranted_. She could tell in the way Uncle Aang, the Avatar, ducked his head in deference to her, the way Aunt Katara's ocean-blue eyes shone with love and respect, the way Uncle Sokka gave her playful, but admiring smiles. Her mother was extraordinary. Everyone knew it. And whenever she finished one of her signature tales, she'd lean down to Lin and whisper in her ear, "Because that's what us Bei Fongs do," with a conspiratorial wink.

For a while, it made Lin rival her mother in how brash and reckless she was. She was a Bei Fong. She was Toph Bei Fong's daughter. Her mother was the greatest earthbender to have ever lived, the inventor of metalbending, Chief of Police in Republic City, the head of the metalbending police. But the day her mother found her at air temple island against her orders, having just earthbended poor Bumi, and even little Tenzin, halfway into the ground, her jawline clenched, teeth grinding like rough granite.

She had Lin's little foot earthbended to the ground in seconds. Bumi and a tearful Tenzin watched, neck-deep in rock as their Aunt Toph stamped her foot and hurled them, none-too-gently, out of the earth. Suddenly, the earth under Lin's foot rotated sharply, and she was facing her mother head on.

Her mother kneeled down, nearly nose to nose with Lin, head and milky, sightless eyes canted slightly downwards as always, dark hair across her face, the angle of her head and stance making her look like a mountain ram about to charge. Lin gulped, but didn't turn her head. The only thing worse than disobeying her mother would be to cower away from her punishment. Lin knew that Bei Fongs took what was coming to them head-on, whether they deserved it or not. Her mother would give her hell if she so much as thought about flinching.

"Come with me," she had growled, releasing Lin's foot at the same time that her fist closed around Lin's wrist, hard and resilient as rock, dragging her back towards home. Lin followed her until she spun and stopped dead in front of their front door. Lin noticed that her mother hadn't bended her foot to the ground, had not attempted to stop any sort of retreat. She could get away, if she wanted. But she knew better. Lin planted bare, grubby feet right to that spot, opposite her mothers'. She seemed to nod a little in slight approval before laying in to Lin. Lin made sure not to flinch.

"Why were you at air temple island when I told you no? Explain. And make it worth my time."

Lin took a deep breath, arms clasped behind her back.

"I was bored and wanted to practice my earthbending," Lin said, clear, confident, and honest.

"Any reason you decided to send Bumi and Twinkletoes Jr. halfway to the center of the earth?"

Lin shrugged.

"Don't shrug at me. Give me a real answer."

"Because I knew I could."

Toph snorted at her like a disgruntled boar, clearly displeased. Lin protested, scrambling to defend herself.

"Bumi challenged me!"

"Did he?" she quirked an eyebrow.

"Yeah! He told me he could beat me even if he wasn't a bender."

Her mother shrugged.

"Well, he got what was coming to him, then. Did Tenzin challenge you, too?"

"No."

"Then why'd ya put him in the ground?"

"He cried when I beat Bumi."

LIn's mother sighed, miffed. To this day, she's not sure if her mother sighed at her pigheaded-ness or Tenzin's crying.

"So, pretty much for no reason."

"You punch Uncle Sokka for no reason."

"No, I punch Uncle Sokka because he's being an idiot."

"Crying like that means he's an idiot, though, right?"

"Lin, quit trying to get away with it. You're in trouble."

"But I thought it was fine! Bei Fongs are supposed to be tough, right?"

"Oh yeah, they are. But you gotta learn that there's a difference between being tough and being mean, kiddo. It was something I had to learn, too."

Lin had scoffed a little, thinking that Tenzin was just acting like a weakling. As if reading her mind, Lin's mother interrupted the thought.

"Do I think Twinkletoes Jr. was overreacting? Yeah, totally. But he didn't challenge you and it looked like you were hurting him a little, short stuff. You're gonna have to learn some restraint. Just because you can doesn't mean you should."

"You sound like Uncle Aang," Lin muttered just a touch distastefully.

"Oh, come on, you love Uncle Aang. His advice isn't all bad. You can't hurt people and you shouldn't go picking fights with people who haven't done anything to you."

"But I thought earthbending was about-"

Lin's mother cut her off.

"A good earthbender waits and listens before she strikes. And when you hear someone challenge you, then you can, and should, whoop their butt," she grinned the wide, cocky grin Lin loved. "But not until, short stuff."

Lin frowned, skeptical.

"I don't get it."

"I think it's time I taught ya, then, half-pint. But not until next week, because you're grounded this week."

"What?! I'm grounded because I hurt stupid Tenzin?"

"A little. But mostly because you disobeyed me. If Republic City has to listen to me and follow my rules, so do you."

"I thought Uncle Sokka said you hated rules."

"Mostly, yeah. Why do you think I made sure I was the one who got to make 'em?"

"Rules are dumb."

"Sometimes. I tried to make mine as non-dumb as possible. But you still have to follow them. When you're as awesome as me, then you can make the rules. But for now, you gotta answer to me," her mother had grinned widely.

Lin huffed to herself. But she remembers that day. That was the day that Lin learned that Bei Fongs use restraint; Bei Fongs wait and listen before they strike, and strike hard.

Lin thinks often of her mother teaching her. She remembers, in particular, that week after she was grounded. When she learned what it meant to wait and listen. She remembers walking for a long time down a hard-packed, dusty dirt path, watching a tiny, whitish butterfly flit along beside them.

"Mommy, a butterfly! There!"

"Sorry, short stuff. If it's in the air, I can't see it. I'm sure it's very pretty, though."

"Why can't you see it in the air? I thought you could still see. With your feet."

"I see with earthbending, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, if it's not touching the earth, I won't see it."

"Oh. Can you see colors?"

"'Fraid not. I don't see quite the same way you do, kid."

"Oh. What do things look like to you?"

"That's what I'm going to show you."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"I wish I could show you how I see," LIn remembers telling her. Her mother had laughed, good-natured.

"Don't worry about it, short stuff. If I didn't 'see' the way I do, I wouldn't be nearly as amazing as I am."

Lin remembers having felt a bit suspicious as they approached what looked like a deep tunnel, burrowing into the mountainside.

"Are we going in there?"

"Yeah. But before we do, stop right here."

Lin had obeyed without question.

"Close your eyes."

And suddenly, there was the sensation of a band of linen around her eyes. And then complete darkness.

"There. Now come with me."

"But it's all dark! I can't see!"

"Oh no. What a nightmare."

Lin giggled, recognizing the line from one of Sokka's stories.

"Sorry. But how am I supposed to know where I'm going?"

"You're going to learn to see like me."

"Okay."

Her mother had led her along, deep underground. Lin had long since lost track of how many turns they had taken when her mother let go of her.

"Mommy?"

Her mother's voice was suddenly very far away.

"Now, you're going to find your way out."

"You're leaving me?!"

"I'll be at the exit."

"But what if something happens?"

"I'll be able to see where you are the whole time. You know I won't let anything hurt you."

"But-"

"Lin, if you're tough enough to put your cousins halfway in the ground, you're tough enough to figure out how to get out."

"But-"

"Come on, Lin! Show some backbone! Bei Fongs don't back down. If you're scared, that's fine. But don't you dare show it, and you better never let it stop you. Now go. Find your way out. Just remember to listen."

Lin stood in the cool, damp tunnel, stock still. She didn't move for a long time. Just listened to the sound of her own breath reverberating in the space around her. Then she heard a rumble far up the tunnel, to her left somewhere. She couldn't tell exactly where, or exactly what it was. Only that it sounded big and very, very frightening. She could feel the earth under her rumble as it got closer. In waves. Every few seconds, vibrations, moving like the ripples her Aunt Katara and cousin Kya always made in the water, reached her and continued out past her, to the far reaches of the tunnel. Lin remained motionless, too scared to do anything else. And the vibrations were getting stronger. The ripples were closer together. Soon, they became a constant thrum until Lin could smell another presence close to her, could feel just in the way the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end that there was something close. But she couldn't tell where. The vibrations were there, but they were indistinct. She couldn't sense them with the precision she needed to. Lin had gasped audibly when she realized what she needed to do. She kicked her shoes off with lightning speed. The thrumming continued, but she could pinpoint it now. The thing was to her right. It felt like it was moving towards her. It felt big.

It was there. Lin remembers barely suppressing a little shout when the thing had started snuffling by her ear. She stood, still but strong, hoping it wasn't hostile. It was an animal, whatever it was. Lin felt more vibrations, coming right from it. It was _earthbending_, she realized, as the pebbles on the cave floor rattled with the animal. The animal was earthbending. Lin started giggling as it continued to shuffle at her and she realized what it was. She had always thought her mother was joking, sarcastic as always, when she told Lin where she learned earthbending. She thought she had been trying to make Lin and her cousins laugh. But she had been telling the truth.

"You're a badgermole," Lin whispered to it. She felt the thing continue to send out the vibrating waves with its earthbending. It did it constantly. Lin wondered why, deciding to try it out for herself. She rumbled the ground beneath her feet. Nothing. She couldn't feel anything but the vibrations she was creating. The badgermole noticed, shuffling for a moment, before sending its own little wave back at her. It did it twice more, as if trying to tell her what to do.

"Yeah, you know I don't know what to do," she'd told it. Suddenly she felt a hard nudge from the thing's massive paw. It knocked her clear over, onto her hands and knees. It continued to poke at her and rumble the ground under them.

"Okay! I'm trying!" she rumbled the ground under her. The badgermole barked, disgruntled.

"What?"

It sent more waves out. She scowled, concentrating on them, trying to figure out what it wanted. As the waves extended, she felt them reverberate across the ground, up the cave wall, farther down the tunnel, down the vast maze of tunnels spider-webbing off in an infinite labyrinth. She could see it _all_. Well, not really see. She couldn't tell the color of the walls, couldn't determine texture. But Lin could sense where things were. She could feel outlines and shapes. She tried sending out her own little wave. A barely-perceptible tremor. She gasped, feeling the outline of the creature in front of her. It was enormous, with large paws and thick, blade-like claws, tiny ears, long snout, and wriggly bald tail. She tried sending out a stronger one, stamping her foot, squatting in a horse stance with her fists at her sides, elbows back like she always watched her mother do. She cackled as the network of tunnels blossomed before her as vibrations in the earth under her bounced against resilient rock and came back at her. She felt the badgermole snort in approval. She laughed, before jumping high in the air, propelled by earthbending, coming down, hard, on both feet. She grinned when she felt one of the tunnels extend all the way to the surface and she felt a familiar shape leaning against the mouth of the cave. She felt bare feet, crossed arms, a flowing tunic cinched with a strong belt, strands of hair hanging over an oval face and, if Lin scowled hard enough, she swore she felt a wide grin. She stamped her foot again, trying to see how her mother saw other people. Vague shapes. Outlines, but surprisingly detailed ones. She could feel clothing outlines, hair shapes, some facial features. And she could definitely feel her mother's unmistakable smile all the way from the belly of the cave system. She felt a vibration of a laugh, felt her mother's foot come down, playfully, in response to her. She started walking towards the exit.

It was slow work. Lin wasn't used to relying on her earthbending in order to see. Sometimes, she misjudged and went down the wrong tunnel. Sometimes, she tripped, or ran into things, unused to her new sight. And sometimes, she noted annoyed, the badgermoles would change a tunnel and she had to alter her course completely.

But soon, her mother's outline, still, patient, and smiling, got closer and stronger. The smell of her, of sun, and earth, and grass, and sandalwood, drifted down to her. Soon, she was standing, tall and proud, in front of her. She felt her lean down, chuckling.

"You made it."

Lin nodded. She hesitated before reaching out and placing her small hands on her mother's face as her mother often did with her, her cousins, her aunts and uncles. She ran her hands over her mother's smiling face, trying to see her like she saw Lin. Mother had chuckled softly.

"Hey, kiddo."

"This is how you see me?"

"Yeah. What do you think? Cool or not?"

"Definitely cool. Did I do everything right?"

"Did you make it out?"

"Yes."

"Then you did great. You did a good job, Lin."

"I think the way you see is better."

A raucous laugh followed.

"Thank you. Glad you like it. Because all your earthbending training from now on is going to happen like this."

Lin couldn't even bring herself to pout about it. She couldn't do anything but grin. Her mother was proud of her and that was all that had mattered then. That was when Lin had learned that Bei Fongs didn't see things the way others did. And it was wonderful.

_**Hope everyone enjoyed! If you liked it, do drop by and leave a review! And keep an eye out for another chapter soon! Until next time!  
**__**~Belmione**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Hi all! Sorry it's been a little while! School controls my life to the point that I don't even remember to log on and update sometimes. But, here's Chapter 2! Enjoy!**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own crap.**_

Lin remembers training. Grueling training. To Mother's credit, Lin was never forced to. She made it very clear that Lin did not have to be anything she didn't want to be. If Lin didn't want to be a bender, even though she had been born with the skill, her mother had insisted that she didn't have to be. She had told Lin from the time Lin could comprehend words that she could be whatever she wanted and that she would love her the same regardless. But Lin _wanted_ to learn. She wanted to be as tough as her mother. She wanted to be able to do things that were extraordinary, like her. She trained every spare minute her mother had to teach her, and practiced every minute that she was away. She stopped to sleep and eat. Lin _loved_ earthbending. She was born with the skill, so whether she honed it or not, the earth spoke to her. She could feel it hum with energy under her feet, a constant presence. But she loved learning to speak back. It defined her. There were days that Lin spent the entire day blind, like her mother, practicing until she couldn't lift her arms anymore. Most of the time she was blindfolded, it wasn't even her mother's suggestion. She just did it herself. There were days she would test herself and go walking out in the city, to see if she could navigate it with bending, the way Mother did. More than once, Mother would stumble across her as she was on patrol, or one of her officers would. They would invariably send her back home, but Lin could hear them trying to contain the smiles in their speech. Once, she made it all the way to the edge of the city, took the blindfold off long enough to swim across Yue bay (which she was not supposed to do, but did anyway frequently) and showed up, dripping, barefoot and re-blindfolded, to Uncle Aang's amusement. He had laughed and ruffled her hair.

"That's how it's done! That's how Toph taught me! Wanna practice with me?" he had asked, excited, like a small child finding an old game they loved.

"Yeah!" Lin gasped, excited to be able to practice with another earthbender. And Uncle Aang was the Avatar, so he was bound to have an unusual style, influenced by all the other elements as he was.

"Okay! Tenzin! Come here and blindfold me!"

Lin could feel Tenzin's quirked eyebrow.

"Father, why?"

Lin would've rolled her eyes if they weren't covered. He was way too serious.

"I'm going to practice earthbending with Lin! It's better if you can't see."

Tenzin wordlessly, cautiously, tied a scarf around his father's eyes.

"Okay! I promise no other elements and no Avatar state. First person to fall over wins! Give me your best shot, Bei Fong!" he giggled.

Lin wasted no time in punching a veritable boulder towards him. Aang spun away from it. He was still grounded, but the way he moved was not anything Lin was used to. That was airbending stuff. She scowled, sending a pillar right under him. Aang stayed under the pillar, rising up with it, before stomping back down on it, sending the force of her own blow back at her. Was that a waterbending thing? He did pull the punch a little. Lin growled. She didn't want pulled punches! Aang finally took the offensive, flinging rocks at her with fast, direct punches. Definitely firebending. So Lin decided to fight fire with fire. She had never done these moves before, but she could mimic them, and she punched her own rock at him, in the same fashion. He nodded.

"Hey, that's great! Keep going, try this!"

Aang swung back and forth with an obvious waterbending move, and as a result, the rock flew, curved, at her.

"Catch it! Use the force of my attack to fuel your own!"

Lin didn't catch it. Instead, she sent it curving back in a full circle, straight for him.

"Woah! Nice job! You almost knocked my head clean off! Okay, the key to this one is to out-maneuver, and out-power me! Go!"

Aang punched another two rocks, hard and fast, at her. Firebending again. Lin dodged the rocks as she was told.

"Try a kick! Firebenders do a lot of kicking in the air! It's really forceful!"

Lin did as he suggested, powering a rock out of the ground, and kicking it with her other leg with a leap, like she sometimes saw Fire Lord Zuko's daughter do, when they visited. The rock flew with a speed she didn't think was possible. Aang barely dodged it.

"Good! Okay, let's do some plain old earthbending," he grinned, sensing that Lin wanted to practice what she knew. Aang slid into the same grounded stance Lin adopted. Lin smiled as she felt him step forward just a little. This was her turf. She sent a small rock under his foot, trying to trip him up. He managed to get away from it, but not as fast as Lin would have. She knew she had him. She just had to tire him out. He was good, she had to give him that. After all, her mother had taught him. In a real fight, of course he would win. He had three other elements under his belt and she was a kid even so. But in earthbending, just plain earthbending, Lin knew she was better than him, even as young as she was. She just waited. Waited for him to slip as she deftly blocked whatever he threw at her. It took a few minutes, but eventually he did. It was a stance Lin knew well. And as Aang slid into the stance, he moved his foot just a little too soon. Lin easily redirected it and suddenly, she felt Uncle Aang's form topple to the ground. She laughed and Aang giggled with her.

"You are your mother's daughter, sweetheart," he grinned at her. "Only you would be able to bend like that at your age." Lin nodded once, as if even debating that was foolish.

"Well done," he grinned. "Come on, Tenzin's got some airbending practice to do. Why don't you take this off and watch for a while? I think you've got the hang of earthbending with it on."

Lin smiled and obeyed, watching Tenzin do his airbending forms. They didn't make much sense to her. She was too used to simple, rooted stances to be able to fathom the light, spiraling movements, the flips and hops and leaps. But she had to admit, they did have a certain beauty. A freshness, a lightness. It was the first time she had ever wondered about bending a different element. The thought didn't last long. No, it would be too devastating to lose the hum in the earth under her toes. She liked how heavy and clear it was. A strong and comforting presence, like her mother. The earth would always be there, just like she would. They were taking care of things. Nothing could shake them. Lin smiled, comforted at the thought, and watched Tenzin practice, eating lychee nuts with her Uncle Aang beside her.

When Mother had found her at the end of the day at Air Temple Island, at first she was furious. Why wasn't Lin home? If she was planning on coming here, why didn't someone tell her so she didn't panic when she got home and Lin wasn't there? Lin inhaled deeply, about to explain, knowing she'd be in trouble, when Uncle Aang covered for her.

"Toph, stop. It was my idea. I invited her here to practice earthbending with me. I should've told you. I'm sorry, I didn't want to frighten you. But she's been safe here with me all day."

"Hmph. I guess I forgive you, Twinkletoes. How'd she do? What does she need work on?"

"I don't know. I really don't. She uh-" Aang scratched the back of his neck like Sokka was wont to do. "She beat me."

"She what?"

"She beat me. She sparred with me. And she beat me. She's really good, Toph. She's about as much a prodigy as you were, I think."

Mother had raised her eyebrows, grinning.

"Of course I'm not surprised. I know she's good. But I didn't think she was _that _good until today. Did ya knock Uncle Aang on his butt, Lin?"

"Heck yeah, I did!"

"She did," he laughed. "Pretty hard, too."

"That's my girl," Mother ruffled Lin's hair.

They had visited for a bit with Uncle Aang and Aunt Katara, who was not at all pleased at the state of the grass around where Aang and Lin's sparring match had taken place. But when Bumi put a grasshopper in her hair, she forgot it quickly, rounding on him once she had danced around and finally batted the thing out of her hair. Uncle Sokka even showed up at some point. Mother had told him the story immediately and they both laughed at poor Aunt Katara's bug scare.

On the way home, Mother was nearly silent. Lin was used to it. She didn't tend to force conversation. It happened naturally or not at all. But eventually she did speak.

"So, you beat the Avatar in a bending spar today, Linny-bear. How does that feel?"

Lin grinned at the nickname. Her mother loved nicknames. You either had to be loved, or infamous, to get one from her. Most that had one were loved, though. The more she loved someone, the more they had. And Lin knew she had the most out of anyone. Her mother never called her the same thing twice.

"It's cool. Have I mastered earthbending?"

"Well, we'd have to test you for that. Even if you haven't though, you're close. You got good quick, kid. Some people work for decades to master some of the stuff you know. You did it in a few short years."

"Wow."

"Yeah. So, I was thinking it's time we move on."

"And do what?!" Lin had asked, alarmed. Was she telling her it was time to stop earthbending? That was all Lin really wanted to do!

"Hm. Well, I'm not sure if you're up for it-" Mother teased.

"Mother, what is it?!"

"I was thinking it was time you started metalbending training."

Lin gasped.

"Really?! I'm really going to start metalbending training?!" Only the best, most talented earthbenders got to learn to metalbend from Mother. And even then, some of them didn't have the skill to do it.

"Yeah, if you want to."

"I do! I really do! Thank you thank you!"

Mother had laughed her signature laugh.

"Don't thank me, thank yourself. You earned it, short stuff. You did a good job, Lin."

Lin beamed. Her mother never gave unwarranted praise. If it wasn't right, she would say so. So if her mother praised her, she knew she had done well.

"I'll warn you. Metalbending will not come as easily as earthbending. It may take weeks before you can even move a coin. It's difficult, stubborn work. Don't get discouraged if things don't happen immediately. But I think you'll get there. You are _my_ kid after all."

Lin grinned the entire way home.

She thought her mother had been exaggerating. But the next day Lin discovered how much work metalbending was going to be.

"Okay, kiddo, what you have to remember is that metal is just purified earth. What you have to do is look for the impurities and concentrate your bending on that. It's not easy."

"How did you learn it?"

"I was in a metal box. Someone had me and was trying to cart me back to my parents.'"

Lin wrinkled her nose. She had heard stories about Lao and Poppy Bei Fong.

"I was so desperate at that point, I was trying anything. I banged on that box for so long I finally found the earth in it. It takes pressure and pain, kid. But if you can work through it, you'll be able to do it."

Lin nodded once.

"Okay. Here we go. Your first task is just to move the coin from here to there. Just look for the earth in it."

Within three hours, Lin was so frustrated, sweating, aiming all her energy at the coin, that she wanted to cry. She held it in, of course. But she had no idea it was this complex. For once in her life, she couldn't do this immediately, first try. She didn't relent. She threw everything she had into it. All day, she worked at it. Mother just stood by. When it was starting to get dark, Mother heard the night animals start to stir, smelled the difference in the air, and said, "Alright. That's enough for today. Come on, let's go inside half-pint."

Lin hung her head.

"Linny-bear, I told you it wasn't easy."

Lin said nothing in return. She was too disappointed, too frustrated with herself.

"You'll get there."

"But you metalbended the first time you even tried."

"It was on accident, kid. And it was only after about ten hours in that box. You'll get it, I promise. You did a good job, Lin."

"But I didn't even bend anything."

"No. But you gave everything you had, didn't you? Really, truly?"

"Yes."

"Then you did well. Bei Fongs never give up, and they give everything they have. You did those things."

And so Lin got up the next day and tried again. And the next. And the next. Each day wore down her resolve just a little more. Sometimes mother was there, but sometimes she was at work. Regardless, she trained every day. After two weeks, she still hadn't moved that coin. Lin had to learn then, what it meant never to give up. It was an easy thing to say when things came easily. But this maddening, grueling work with no result at all was what built up her perseverance. Her strength. She refused to stop. There were days that she was up even before her mother was, outside, trying to move that coin, and when her mother came home after dark, she hadn't left to stay with Aang like she was supposed to. She had stayed in the front yard, trying to move that coin, and was still right there where her mother left her. Lin learned then never to give up, even if one never achieved what they were after. Another try, no matter how much it took from her, was better than sitting there, doing nothing. She didn't care if she _never_ learned how to do it. She would keep working for the rest of her life trying anyway.

There was one such night, though, that her mother didn't come strolling into the yard and calmly force her back inside. Mother had rushed up to the house, far earlier than normal. Lin's throat closed up as she saw the look on Mother's face. She was obviously shaken. _Nothing_ ever phased her. Lin had never seen her mother look anything but calm and stoic, with a little dash of arrogance thrown in.

"Come on, Lin, in the house," she commanded. Her voice was shaking. Lin had never heard that either. She started to panic.

"Mother, what's going on? What happened?"

"I'll explain later."

Lin watched her mother shove clothes and a few other necessities into a bag that belonged to Uncle Sokka.

"Where are we going?"

"We're spending the night with Uncle Aang and Aunt Katara. Uncle Sokka's coming too. They're coming to pick us up on Appa in a few minutes."

Lin sat quietly, shaking a little. She didn't badger her mother with questions. She had said she would tell Lin later. And Mother looked and sounded so upset that Lin didn't really want to talk with her much right then. It was too unsettling. Soon Lin felt the familiar gush of wind that meant the flying bison had landed. Uncle Sokka was in the door in seconds.

"Come on, you two, let's not linger."

Lin watched Uncle Sokka squeeze her mother's shoulder and keep his hand there. So he could tell that she was upset too. He helped her up on Appa and then scooped Lin up and put her up there too. Sokka clambered up on the bison right after her. Uncle Aang was there at the reins, as always. Her mother pressed herself up against Uncle Sokka, huddled a little. Lin thought she heard him say, "It's okay, Toph. It's over." But she wasn't sure. She sat in the middle of the large saddle, shivering a little.

"Hey, Lin, come sit up here with Uncle Aang," Aang patted a space next to him at the front of the saddle. "You're going to learn to fly an air bison today!"

Lin smiled as much as she could. She loved her Uncle Aang. He was always so good at making people feel better. She sat next to him and he put an arm around her.

"Okay, you remember what to say, right? Help me out."

"Appa, yip yip!"

The bison took off with a grumble.

"Uncle Aang?"

"Yes, Lin?"

"What's going on? Mother wouldn't tell me."

Aang sighed.

"There was a trial today for a very misguided man that has been hurting people in the city for a long time. Some things went wrong there. You know your mother had to be there since she's the chief of police. Well, the man got out and had me, your mother, and Uncle Sokka out of commission for a moment. Everyone is alright, so don't panic. I found him and took care of it. He's not going to hurt anyone again. But your mother is still shaken up about it. You know no one has ever gotten close enough to her to stop her. But this man was a very powerful bender. She's never been through this before. Just be patient with her. Don't be angry with her if she's a little on-edge for a while. She just needs some time."

"Is she alright?"

"She's fine, sweetie. I'm the Avatar, I should know, right?" he grinned playfully. But that was the first time Lin saw the weight in Uncle Aang's eyes along with the sparkle.

"Why are we all going to your house tonight?"

"Well, we want to make sure that that man doesn't have any friends that are mad about all this. Air Temple Island is one of the safest places in the city. We have to make sure everyone is okay tonight, just in case."

She would be glad to get to Air Temple Island and see Kya and Bumi and Tenzin. The adults in her life right now looked very serious and scared. It was frightening to realize that they weren't invincible. Especially her mother. No one could beat her mother. No one. But someone had today. Lin didn't want to think about it for too long.

She was glad to see Aunt Katara, too. She welcomed Lin with one of her warm hugs. Katara was a lot softer and warmer than Mother. Sometimes it was nice. But Mother was stronger. Secure. Or, Lin had thought she was. She wasn't sure anymore.

They all slept in the living room that night, the kids in the middle of the room, the adults on the outside. Lin was curled up between Kya and Tenzin. They put Bumi on the outside so he couldn't dip anyone's fingers in water or something during the night. Kya had Lin wrapped in her arms, just like Aunt Katara would do. She was warm and soothing. But for practical Lin, soothing words only went so far. Eventually, her discerning brain would tell her why they were empty, why they didn't help. She still shook a little, even with Kya stroking her hair. Tenzin arched a grave eyebrow at her.

"Why are you scared, Lin?"

Lin had shrugged, more than a little hostile. The adults were gathered on the outside of the room, out of earshot from them.

"Why does it matter to you? And I'm not scared."

"You are," Tenzin murmured, eyes cast down. "So am I."

"Well why are _you_ scared, then?"

"Probably the same reason you are."

"Which is?"

"That now you know she's not perfect. And it's scary."

"Who's not perfect?"

"Your mother. Just like my father's not. I've never seen him scared before today."

Lin stayed silent. Tenzin might be annoying, but he did unfailingly tell the truth. His brain worked like hers. Logical and compartmentalized. He always knew the truth. He just tended to present it in a gentler, more intellectual manner than brash Lin.

"What do we do?" Lin finally asked.

Tenzin sighed.

"Nothing. Just, keep going. There's nothing to do about it. Let it wash over you and then let it go."

Such an airbender, Lin had scoffed. He was right in a lot of ways. But the idea that she could do nothing was not one that had ever occurred to her, and she wasn't about to start then. If Tenzin said there was nothing to be done about it, he just hadn't looked hard enough for the right thing to do. Still, there was nothing to be done about it tonight. Lin eventually curled up to go to sleep, huddled against Kya, hand stretched out toward Tenzin, who understood things. Lin woke up sometime in the night to urgent whispers. She identified the first voice as Uncle Sokka.

"Toph stop. Stop, it's okay. Just calm down."

Lin tensed, alarmed, as she heard her mother. She was _crying_. She had never heard her mother cry. She was sure Uncle Sokka had never heard it either.

"I really was blind. It's the first time in my life I've actually been blind. I couldn't see anything. It was dark and I couldn't move-" she gasped.

"Toph-"

"And all I could think about was how I wouldn't know if he did something to any of you. I wouldn't be able to feel it, I couldn't move. I couldn't help you. I wouldn't have known. I kept wondering if he'd get out and get to Lin or something. If he did-"

"He didn't. He didn't, it's okay," Uncle Sokka reiterated, trying to calm her. Her mother said nothing after. Her mother was that scared over not being able to "see" to protect all of them. It wasn't about her. It was about everyone else. That was the night Lin learned that Bei Fongs are there to protect. They protect people. They protect the ones they love. Lin resolved to protect her mother from worrying about her as she went to sleep. The next morning, Lin marched outside early, before anyone was awake. She had swiped a coin from Uncle Sokka's pocket. He never woke up. Everyone knew that it'd take an earthquake to wake Sokka, and even so, he might not stir completely. Lin scowled at the coin and it flew halfway to the shoreline of Air Temple Island. Lin nodded once. She had known that the coin would move. Because it had to. She was giving it no choice. Just like she had no choice. She had to learn to defend herself. She could not rely on her mother to do that for her. She could not forever worry her like that. She wanted Mother to know that she was safe because she would know that Lin could take care of herself. And when she got good enough, maybe she could even take care of Mother, too. So that she would not have to cry like that again.

When Mother awoke, Lin could feel her hand on the ground, looking for Lin. And she could feel sightless eyes widen as she felt where Lin was. Outside, bending the entire contents of Aunt Katara's coin purse into intricate shapes. Lin watched her mother stand in the doorway, grinning, feeling the shapes that Lin was making in tiny circles of brass and copper and nickel and gold. Lin had looked towards her mother with a clenched jaw and hard eyes.

"You don't have to worry about me, Mother. I can earthbend and I can metalbend, now, too. I can defend myself."

Mother's smile had dissolved when Lin spoke. She shook her head.

"I know how well you earthbend, and knew you'd be able to metalbend once your mind was in the right place. You're good, short stuff, and don't ever think I don't know it. And I think you could kick anyone's butt you wanted to. But-" Mother had walked over and leaned down to run calloused fingers through Lin's dark hair, "I'm afraid you can't stop me from worrying about you. I have since you were born and I will till I die. Because I love you so much. I don't have to worry about you, but I want to. You're the most important person in the world to me, Linny-bear."

Lin had tucked herself under Mother's chin at that point.

"I was worried about _you_, Mother. You were scared yesterday."

Mother had nodded.

"Yes. It's okay to worry and it's okay to be scared. What matters is that you don't let it stop you. If you have to, let it fuel you to keep going. You don't give up. And _you _never give up, my little badgermole. I've never seen you give in. Hell, you're the youngest metalbender to have ever lived."

Lin's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yeah. I was a few years older when I did it. All of my officers were adults before they figured it out. My youngest pupil at my metalbending school when I first started was a year older than you. You've done a good job, Lin. And I know you'll continue to."

Lin had nodded and smiled. That was the day she had learned two things. That Bei Fongs never give up, and that above all, they protect people. They protect the ones they love.

_**Hope everyone enjoyed! If you liked it, do drop by and leave a review! And keep an eye out for another chapter soon! Until next time!**_

_**~Belmione**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Hi all! Sorry it's been a while! I'm still writing on this story and it has a good many chapters left. So if you like it, bear with me as I forget to update in wake of my hectic life, haha. I promise a new chapter will pop up from time to time until I finish the story. So here's chapter 3!**_

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**_

For the next few years, Lin's life was metalbending. She put every last ounce of herself in it. Because after that day, she knew what she wanted to do. And really, she supposed, she had always wanted to. And she had to make sure she was a near-perfect metalbender to do it. When she got older, she wanted to be a part of her mother's police force. Maybe, one day, she'd be chief like Mother was. She hoped so. Mother might joke about liking being the one to make the rules. But really, Lin knew she was chief of police because she wanted nothing more than to make sure the city she had helped build was kept safe. That her friends and family had a safe city to live in. Lin wanted to do the same. She wanted to do it for her cousins, for her friends. But she also wanted to do it for her Aunts and Uncles, and for Mother. She didn't want them to worry. She wanted them to know, when they were older, that the city would be okay. That she would be okay, and her cousins would. Everything would be okay because Lin Bei Fong was taking care of it. She puffed out her chest at the thought, nodding sharply.

Often, her cousins would tease her about how hard she delved into practicing her bending. Or Kya and Bumi did, at least. Kya did practice of course, but not with the same grim, teeth-gritting determination that Lin did. Kya had inherited a lot of her father's free-spirited nature and was far too easygoing about things for Lin's taste.

"Don't kill yourself practicing, Lin," she'd laugh, free and loud. "It'll work out. Just go at your own pace. You'll get there. Don't force it."

Lin had snorted and kept going as she had been. This _was_ her own pace. Lin did everything thoroughly, quickly, and put blood, sweat, and tears into it if she had to. Bumi did a lot of combat training with Uncle Sokka, but had a similar free spirit. This usually ended in Sokka and Bumi discarding their practice weapons in favor of working on one of Uncle Sokka's grandiose plans, or on one of Bumi's notorious pranks.

The only person who seemed to have a similar dedication was Tenzin. Lin watched him do the same things she did as they got older. He lived airbending. And one day, Lin realized why. He was doing the same thing she was, really. He was pouring everything he had into making sure his father's legacy lived on after him. But he had even more pressure to do it. Uncle Aang was the last airbender in existence. And Tenzin was his only airbending child. Tenzin, she realized, had to learn everything he could from Uncle Aang about airbending because, after Uncle Aang died, _Tenzin_ would be the last airbender left. Lin watched him from afar, could see the weight on his shoulders. She understood it all too well. She knew she would forever live in the shadow of being Toph Bei Fong's daughter. Regardless of what she did, that was what she would always be. And she felt a compulsion to live up to it. She had to be as close to as good as Mother was as possible. She couldn't let people down. They expected her to be the next earthbending, metalbending powerhouse that Mother was. Who else would keep the city safe? Who else would have that power? It fell on her and she had to deliver. She knew that being the sole carrier of an entire culture held even more weight, more pressure. She knew it had to be tough. And Tenzin was tough because he did it without complaint, without question. With nothing more than a quirked, serious eyebrow and a sigh.

Lin and Tenzin spent a lot of whatever spare time they had together. They made sense to one another. Often, they commiserated with one another. What it was like to have the greatest earthbender that had ever lived, and the Avatar, who was the sole surviving airbender, as a parent, respectively. And neither Mother nor Uncle Aang had ever pressured either of them into doing any of this. They hadn't forced them to do it. But both Tenzin and Lin knew what would happen if they didn't. If they didn't carry on their legacy, no one would. It would die with them. And neither of them were willing to see that happen. So they worked diligently on, trying their best to be them. Or as close to them as they could. They spoke often about it. And sometimes, they didn't speak at all. Just sat together, weary but determined. Really, all of them felt it a little. They watched Kya shrink sometimes, hearing everyone talk about Master Katara, the first female _and_ the youngest waterbending master ever, the first woman allowed to train with a waterbending master. They saw her watch Aunt Katara, watched her eyes widen as she realized what _she_ had to carry on. And Bumi, in a lot of ways, was Uncle Sokka's legacy. He was a non-bending master of combat styles. As much as Sokka and Bumi took frequent breaks from practices, Bumi wanted to be a fighter, and as a non-bender, Sokka was his role model. But Lin and Tenzin were the ones who made it their life. That was what they were. They were the carriers of their parents' knowledge and it was their sole focus all day, every day.

As they got older, people noticed their dedication. People beyond their parents and family. Lin remembers the day that Tenzin got voted in as the new air nomad representative on the council. The previous representative was getting older, and tiring of the strain. Tenzin, of course, was the obvious choice. The only airbender in existence besides his father, who couldn't be on the council as the Avatar. He was the youngest member of the council. But Lin knew it wouldn't matter. Tenzin had been born an old soul. He was unfailingly level-headed and serious. He would be perfect for it. She congratulated him with a smile that evening, along with everyone else. She was the only person he smiled back at. As if he was telling her, "We're doing it. We're making it. We're doing what we're supposed to do." She nodded.

And it wasn't long before Mother sighed one evening and asked, "Lin? What do you want to do with your life?"

Lin had almost laughed.

"That's a bit philosophical for you, isn't it, Mother?"

Mother had laughed.

"Maybe. But all you've ever done is train train train. What are you going to do with it? Or do you really want to do anything with it? You don't necessarily have to, you know that. I mean, our family _is_ filthy rich."

Lin had laughed here.

"I know, Mother. But I do want to do something with it. I don't want to sit here for the rest of my life."

"Okay. So-" Mother had trailed off, waiting for Lin to continue.

"I want to be on the police force," Lin had stated clearly. She had never told her mother that before. But Mother hadn't seemed surprised. She nodded.

"I wondered. I did catch you practicing with my cables that day, don't forget that."

"As if you'd let me forget it."

She chuckled.

"Well, are you sure that's what you want to do? It's not easy. But I'm sure you realize that."

"That's what I've been training to do since I was about eight, Mother."

"Well, I didn't realize you'd been sure for _that_ long. I guess you're definitely serious, then."

"Yes."

"Okay. Well, you know I test everyone who comes into the force first. Then you'd have to undergo training for half a year. Then another test. And if you pass all that, you're in. Well, the next test is in two weeks. And I have to approve anyone who wants to test. If you want on the force, I'll approve you to test. I think you're ready, if that's what you want."

Lin's eyes had widened.

"I...thank you, Mother."

"You've earned it, kid. You're good. Really good. Just know beforehand. I'm not going to give you any preference. I'm not going to go easy on you. You can't even call me Mother. It'll be Chief-"

"I know all of this, Mother. I don't want you to treat me like your daughter. I want to earn it."

Mother had grinned mutedly.

"Alright. Well, keep practicing, kid. You've got two weeks and then you're mine."

"Yes, Chief," Lin had grinned. Mother had nodded, approving.

The test was not what was difficult. Lin had been training in metalbending since she was a child. It was not even her mother barking orders at her. She was familiar with that, too. It was the others. Who sneered at her derisively when she out-bended them. The few who were rejected cursing in her direction, and only hers. Not at the others who had passed, too. Who rolled their eyes when they heard her last name. It was a blow she did not expect, although she should have. Of course they would think that she only got in because of her mother. Never mind that she was the best bender out of any of them. And there was another factor she hadn't thought about. Besides mother, she was the only woman here. No one else who had tested was. None of mother's officers were. And she knew it wasn't because mother was trying to keep them out. That was nonsense. Mother _wanted_ more women in the force. But they just weren't testing to get in. She wished they would. Because she knew that was another part of the derision. Lin wondered today how many times these people had questioned Mother's authority because she was a woman. How many times she had to reassert her authority. And of course not everyone was like that. But some were. Lin supposed that there were two types of people who wanted to go into law enforcement. People who truly wanted to protect, and people who said they did because they were power-hungry. Mother needed powerful metalbenders. Sometimes, she supposed, she had to accept people who were tough enough, but who might not always be nice people. Mother could rein them in, or fire them, if they got carried away. But it didn't make the next months of Lin's life any easier.

When Lin went home that day, Mother had turned toward her knowingly.

"You did a good job today, Lin." She clapped a hand on her shoulder. Mother knew. Lin nodded, determined to see it through.

The next months were difficult. The training was grueling, but Lin had the skill to work through it. It was weathering the constant barrage of quiet curses and insults. Of course if anyone openly challenged her, Mother, or one of her officers who was substituting for her so she didn't have to spend all her days training new recruits, would quash it. That is, if Lin didn't take care of it herself first. But even if it wasn't an open challenge, Lin knew she couldn't go talk to someone higher up about it. Because she knew if she had any hope of making it here, she'd have to earn respect from her peers, however hard-won and unfair it was. She had to make these people fear _her_, not fear her going to someone else to solve the problem. And so Lin fought back, fiercely. She met each muttered curse with a challenge to say it to her face, if they were man enough. No one was. She took each insult and volleyed back a sharper one. Lin did have to say, she had an advantage in that she was unequivocally cleverer than any of the swine who had the indecency to pester her day in and day out. She had a sharper mind and sharper tongue than any of them, and could dish out verbal humiliation in the blink of an eye. She never did unless it was warranted, but anyone who challenged her walked away with their tail between their legs. And she could tell she was earning respect, not necessarily from those who challenged her, but from those who didn't. Those who weren't backwards imbeciles noticed how she dealt with it. The ones who might've come to her aid didn't have to. Lin had already taken care of it. There was a day that one person attempted physical retribution. It wasn't terribly violent. They were going to put a squirrel-rat down the back of her uniform. Unfortunately for the trainee in question, Lin's practicing blind for most of her life gave her the second sight her mother had. She surreptitiously tripped the idiot in seconds flat and he went face-first into the rock-hard floor. The squirrel rat managed to bite him a few times before it escaped. He was dismissed from training that day for disrupting class and for bringing an animal in the building. Lin purposefully chuckled under her breath right as he walked by her, so he knew she had done it. He couldn't prove anything, of course, but Lin knew that he knew, and that was all that mattered. He wouldn't try anything like that again.

Then the sparring began. Some treated her like any other sparring partner. She beat them without fail, but did try not to humiliate the ones who were decent to her. Some of the ones who disliked her told her they were going easy on her, an obvious jab at her ability. They never got another word in. She had them bound in unyielding cable, just a little too tightly, in a nanosecond. If she was feeling ornery, she might put them halfway in the ground for good measure. There weren't too many rules in sparring. There weren't rules on the streets of Republic City, so Mother didn't regulate things too much. Students were just expected to make sure their sparring partner wasn't injured too severely and other than that, anything was fair game.

But the ones who deliberately tried to hurt her, in malicious insecurity and envy, were the ones who walked out limping, if they were lucky. They were obviously trying to put Lin out of commission. So Lin returned the favor. In the mildest case, the man nearly choked he was so terrified when Lin all but threw him against the wall and held him there with a combination of earth and steel cable. In the most severe case, the guy had flung a blade-like rock straight at her throat. The man crumpled to the ground, cradling an arm that was clearly broken. Lin shrugged and said she was very sorry, Chief, it was an accident. Mother gave her an obligatory, terse, "Make sure it doesn't happen again, Bei Fong." When they met again at home that night, Mother had let out a raucous laugh as soon as she felt her, chortling, "You did a good job, Lin."

It was a tough, but rewarding time for Lin. It was arduous, slow work. Clawing her way to respect and recognition from an unwilling and disrespectful group of peers and elders. And true to her word, Mother did not ease her passage. This was something Lin had to do. But she wanted to do it. She didn't want help. She wanted to know, at the end of the day, that it was all her.

It was much the same for Tenzin too, really. Of course, he wasn't vulnerable to serious injury in earning respect from his peers and they didn't scoff at him for being the only woman in the room, obviously. But he was subject to a different treachery, one that Lin thought might be worse. She could understand and predict the violence she suffered. But Tenzin was now caught in the realm of politics. Sometimes, from what he told her, it was a veritable snake-pit of self-importance, selfishness, backwards and untoward agendas, and a hunger for power and money. For Tenzin, who tried his best to detach himself from worldliness in general, it was a trying experience. To gain respect from people who, often, had values so repulsive to him that it took everything he had not to lose his temper. He did have one, although he would never admit it. He _was_ Katara's son, and often she watched his blue eyes flash just like hers did. It was unavoidable. But he had to gain their respect to make sure he could continue to do what was best for the air nomads. Air Temple Island only had two nomads who were actually benders, but it now had plenty of non-benders who had found the lifestyle fulfilling and meaningful, and who were trying as hard as Tenzin to preserve the culture that was nearly lost. And Tenzin was working tirelessly to ensure that it _was_ preserved. They were both so tired. But they each saw so much _potential_ in what lay ahead. It was a strange, infectious sort of joy.

It was bound to happen, eventually. Lin had felt it for a while. There was an ease with Tenzin. They were too similar in too many ways. Similar situations, the same sort of mercilessly logical brain. But they were very different, of course. Tenzin was detached. Serious. And really, Lin was anything but. Imminently grounded. And seriousness was impossible to achieve having been raised with Toph Bei Fong. But more than any of those things, there was just a hum in the air that Lin only felt when she was around him. It made her want to confide in him. To laugh with him. It made her smile. She wondered if he felt a distant hum in the earth when she was there. She hoped so.

It happened on the day that Tenzin got his airbending tattoos. Aang made sure that Tenzin got them once he was of age. It was a serious commitment. Aang must've asked Tenzin a thousand times if he was sure. But Tenzin was thoroughly dedicated to preserving every aspect of airbending culture, and he wasn't about to ignore this one. He came to her bandaged and smiling gravely. She grinned.

"Cool. So how long do you have to keep the bandages on?"

"Not too long. Mother can help it all heal faster anyway. It should take eight weeks, but I think she could probably cut it down to two."

"How long did it take?"

"A few days. A good few hours each day."

"This might be the toughest thing I've ever seen you do, Tenzin. I'm impressed."

Tenzin had rolled his eyes.

"Excuse me if not all of us find physical battery enjoyable."

"You're excused. But you're still a flower."

Tenzin had sighed, a little exasperated.

Lin wasn't sure what made her want to trace the bandaged line, with uncharacteristic gentleness, up his arm, around his shoulder blades, up the back of his neck. Tenzin had closed his eyes, trusting. She reached the point between his arched eyebrows traced her own line down his jaw. Neither one of them has ever been sure who leaned forward first. It didn't really matter. What mattered was that someone did and when Lin felt Tenzin's lips on hers, she couldn't do anything but close her eyes and let Tenzin carry her away, as if she were a leaf on a gusting breeze. Tenzin felt and tasted like the air, which Lin decided then that she really didn't mind. It was nice. Light, fresh, teasing, unpredictable, sweeping, and undeniably free. It stole her breath. He stole the air right out of her. And she let him, glad for it. Lin thought that, if she weren't an earthbender, that she would not mind at all being an airbender, and letting the spiraling wind sweep her away.

They didn't say much to their parents at first. And they certainly didn't tell Bumi or Kya. They weren't going to weather the teasing, the playful, needling assertion that they were _cousins_ for Spirits' sake! Of course, all of them had always known that they weren't actually related. That their parents were just close to one another and had used the familial titles for simplicity's sake. They were making sure this would last before breaking it to their families. But it was plain after a while that Tenzin was there to stay. Lin had always known that she was. She loved the air, but she was like the earth, there was no denying. Steadfast and unmoving. She knew that she would never move now. Not from Tenzin. Whether he stayed or not, for good or for ill, Lin was stuck on Tenzin, as unyielding as rock. It had taken a long time for her to budge, and now that she had, there was no going back.

She knew that he was good for her. She was able to put the idiots at training back in their place without getting upset, without worrying about it, without her temper flaring. She inhaled deeply, thinking of free and grave Tenzin, and it was as if he had granted her his ability to detach. She would go to him after everything was done and relax as soon as soon as she smelled him, a mixture of clean water and mint, on the breeze. He was her escape. And as much as he was her escape, she knew she was his rock, strong and dependable and loyal. She knew she spurred him to stand his ground, to persevere, to go after what he needed. Opposites. Yin and yang.

They told everyone on the day that Lin passed her test into the metalbending police force. It was an arduous and intricate test. And Lin knew that she had aced it before they told her. She had nodded once when they presented her with her uniform. But she grinned like she wanted to when she walked out and found Uncle Sokka, Uncle Aang and Aunt Katara, Kya and Bumi, and Tenzin in front of them all, standing outside the police headquarters, grinning. Mother must've tipped them off. As if her mind had been read, she felt a hand squeeze her shoulder, and saw her mother appear, that same crooked grin on her face, staring straight ahead as always.

"You did a good job, Lin. Welcome to the force, kid. You did it."

The first thing Lin did was throw her arms around her mother's neck. Mother had laughed and squeezed her back. The second thing she did was release her mother and charge straight at Tenzin. With a boldness that resembled Lin, Tenzin planted a grinning kiss on her immediately. Mother had just cackled, unsurprised. Lin was sure that the choking sounds were coming from both Aunt Katara and Uncle Sokka. They dealt with stress similarly. She knew the vomiting sounds were Bumi, the airy giggle was Kya, and the warm and good-natured, "Well. Congratulations," was Uncle Aang. It's the happiest day she remembers. Lin had given all of herself. And the universe had given it back in spades that day. That was the day she learned why Bei Fongs give all of themselves. Because anything worth anything is worth one's all.

_**Hope you all enjoyed! I'd love it if you'd drop by and leave a review to tell me what you thought! Until next time!**_

_**~Belmione**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**_

Lin began her slow climb up the ranks of the Republic City Police force. It was a long road of being in the right place at the right time, of long hours, double shifts, fierce determination, and a lot of the same forcefulness that got her through training. But there was always Tenzin to wash away the day's frustrations. She lived at Air Temple Island, in a simply furnished room with Tenzin, blessedly far from the other side of the temple where Uncle Aang and Aunt Katara lived. Kya had long since gone off to the South Pole to master her waterbending, and Bumi had up and enlisted in the United Forces, much to Aunt Katara's dismay. Mother never said much about it. She knew she missed her at home, but Mother wouldn't admit it and would never have made her feel that she had any obligation to stay. She just grinned softly and said, "You got something special, Linny-bear. Cherish it." She saw mother every day anyway, so it wasn't as if she ignored her. Years passed this way. Lin worked as tirelessly as she always had. And her hard work paid off. Lin moved through the ranks steadily. Nearly five years after she joined the force, Mother's second-in-command retired. Mother had to choose another. Lin expected Mother not to choose her. It was an obvious conflict of interest. What she didn't expect was the officer in question publicly turning down the position. When asked why he thought he couldn't fill the position, in front of the entire force, the grizzled man in his late forties had growled, "Chief, we all know who should be filling that spot. And it certainly ain't me." And suddenly the entire room had turned to stare at Lin. She stared ahead, unflinching, refusing to react. Mother had nodded, silent, before continuing.

"Are you nominating another Officer? Or are you going to make more work for me and make me figure it out?"

"Yes ma'am, I'm nominating someone else. I'm nominating Officer Bei Fong for the position."

Mother just nodded.

"Well, it has to be put to a vote then. All in favor," Mother had asked, not wasting any time.

Lin was not prepared for it. For the entire room to put their hands up. Even the men who had sneered at her and cursed at her since her training. Even they, grudgingly, put their hands in the air. Even they recognized that she had done nothing but work for this since she was a child. Lin could barely breathe.

"Well that's settled then. Up here, Bei Fong."

Lin swallowed hard and made her way up to the front of the room beside Mother. Mother pinned the captain's badge on her. And Mother didn't hide the grin, or the sheen in her sightless eyes, from Lin. Mother whispered to her surreptitiously, throat obviously closing up on her, "You did a good job, Lin." And it took everything Lin had to keep her straight face. But keep it she did. Afterwards, Lin walked, silent and elated, through the halls of headquarters with Mother. She'd be working with her almost exclusively now. Lin was now Mother's right hand. Mother smirked.

"You know what this means, right, Lin?"

"I'm captain now? I'm your second in command."

"Well, yes, that. But when I retire, it's all you."

Lin stopped, turning that over in her head.

"You've sealed the deal for being the next Chief. It's just a matter of when I leave. You did it, kid."

Lin had been unable to stop the choked laugh from escaping. Mother had smiled softly.

"I'm proud of you, my little badgermole. You've done such a good job, Lin." Mother had just shaken her head, unable to do much else.

It was here, working alongside Mother, that Lin was happiest. It was what she had wanted to do since she was still in diapers. She used to try to follow mother to work in the mornings. And now she was here. And being second in command meant that when she got to go out to a call, it was a big one. They didn't call in the Chief and her second in command for nothing. If the Bei Fongs were called in, it was major. And both Lin and Mother loved it. It was an adrenaline rush. It was also a lot of paperwork. And Lin had to do it all, just as Mother's last second in command had to. Lin protested once, complaining that Mother didn't even try to do any of it. Mother nodded, said she was right, and had taken one of the forms that Lin was supposed to fill in and began filling it out herself. Until Lin realized what she was doing and she snatched it back from her, examining the amorphous scribbling exasperatedly.

"Point taken, Mother. That wasn't necessary."

"Everything is necessary when my own daughter forgets that I'm blind. You're as bad as your Uncle Sokka."

"We only forget because you're twice as capable as we are."

"That _is_ true," Mother had teased.

"Ugh. Just let me do the paperwork."

"Thank you. That's exactly what I wanted," she had chuckled. Lin couldn't help but grin back.

Working with Mother, Lin was allowed to make decisions. Suggest changes. The first came about when her reels ran out trying to chase down a member of one of the many bending triads in the underbelly of the city. She only had two cables, and they were only so long, seeing as how they were attached to her hip.

"Dammit, I hate it when that happens," Mother huffed, only a step behind her. Lin hoped she was half as fit as Mother when she was her age. That woman still ran like she was twenty.

"We lost him."

"We'll catch him eventually. Another day, half-pint."

But that got Lin thinking. They needed more cable. More than just two. They needed to be longer. The next week, she came in with an idea that Uncle Sokka had helped her draw up while he was visiting Air Temple Island on her day off. Tenzin had just smiled softly, eyebrow quirked, watching the two of them plan.

"Mother, I have an idea about the cables."

"What about the cables?"

"They're not long enough. And I think it would be good to have more than two."

"Point taken. So what's the solution?"

"This."

"Well it sounds like a sheet of paper, but I guess you're referring to what's on the sheet of-"

"Ugh, okay, okay, sorry. It's an idea for a new type of reel. We figured it'd be best if it went on your back instead of on the hips. It'd have, total, six reels of cable, three for each arm. Uncle Sokka has all of the cable on two discs, one smaller one on bottom, and a bigger one on top. The cable would run down a sleeve with runners on it, so they'd come straight ahead off of your arm."

Mother nodded.

"Sounds alright. But I'd have to "see" it to be sure. How about you go make it and we'll test it."

Lin nodded. She had one bended together by the end of the week. It was heavy. Complex. But it was streamlined. And Lin knew it was a good idea as soon as she tested it out in front of Mother. She shot three cables ahead off her right arm. It was _fast_. And she had so much more control. She and Uncle Sokka had done it. And she knew Mother approved as she put her hand on Lin's back and felt the way the new cable moved.

"That's fast, kid. And it's a lot more efficient. I'm impressed. You wear it for a month around here. Work out the bugs and everything. And once you have, if it works still, we'll start making them standard issue."

And Lin knew then that Mother may have invented metalbending, but she knew she would be the one to revolutionize it. She grinned, accomplished.

And the reels did work with relatively few bugs to work out. Within a few months, the entire force was equipped with them, including Mother. Mother loved them. Lin suspected she liked how fast they were. Mother loved force and speed. She listened to her cackle whenever she used them. Lin wasn't sure she could contain her pride when they caught the same member of the same triad the very next week, thanks to the new reels.

"You did a good job, Lin," Mother cackled, grinning down at the poor criminal, bound and confused. Lin nodded her thanks.

Things were peaceful. Steady. Happy. Lin spent her days with Mother, doing what she loved. She spent her evenings in peace and quiet with Tenzin at Air Temple Island. All was well.

No one saw it coming. It was quiet and unexpected. A little like him. Lin remembers that day with a sharpness she wishes even now would go away. She remembers laughing with mother over some idiot criminal who had given himself away trying to smash up some poor non-bender's shop. She remembers mother perking up.

"Sokka's here. Wonder what he wants."

She remembers watching Mother's face grow wary. Frightened.

"He doesn't look good. His heart is all over the place. Something's wrong, Lin."

They waited for him to get to the door to the office they shared. Lin's heart dropped into her stomach when she saw her Uncle Sokka's face. The tears streaming down it.

"Sokka, what happened?" Mother asked, alarmed. He shook his head.

"Sokka? Sokka!" she asked wildly. Lin's mouth went try watching her funny, stoic Uncle dissolve on Mother's shoulder. Mother held him up, the pillar of strength she always had been.

"Sokka, come on, tell me what happened. Don't leave me hanging, Snoozles, I'm worried about you."

He gasped.

"Aang." Sokka couldn't continue. Just shook his head.

"What about Aang? Is he alright?!" Mother exclaimed, voice starting to shake like Sokka's. Lin had no choice but to sit, silent, stewing in her own fear.

Sokka shook his head grimly.

"He's-"

Sokka never could force the words out exactly.

"Katara says it might be all the time he spent in the iceberg. He was in there for a hundred years. She guesses it just took a toll on him we didn't know about. She came to wake him up this morning and he was just-"

Lin's vision blurred with tears. Mother just stared straight ahead, eyes blank, tears making a slow, melancholy journey down her face.

"Come on, Lin. We're taking the rest of the day. They'll cover for us. Let's go, Sokka. Sokka, come on. We're going to the island. We're not leaving Katara alone if we can help it."

Lin knew she had to go for Tenzin. He would be inconsolable. The journey there was long and silent. Mother dragged Sokka along, his lanky arm thrown around her small, strong shoulders, crying silently herself. Lin put on the same brave face, walking a few paces behind them. She heard her tears plop on the cold metal of her uniform. Uncle Aang. Sweet, loving Aang. She gritted her teeth. She couldn't break. Because she knew Tenzin already had.

Lin had never admired her Aunt Katara more than she did that day. She may have been softer and a little more emotional than Mother. But there was steel in that woman and Lin saw it that day. She had Kya and Bumi in her living room. Kya had her eyes covered with her hands. Bumi sat ramrod straight, scowling, eyes sparkling. And Katara sat there with them both, teeth gritted, making sure she kept her tears from spilling over. Forcing her voice not to shake when she spoke. Katara was taking care of everyone, as she always had. Mother had attempted to comfort her as best she could. Mother wasn't good in this sort of situation and neither was Lin. But Katara had swatted her away.

"I'm fine. Help Sokka. You're the only one who knows how to handle him right now. He'll try to take care of me if I try, and he can't. Help Sokka."

Lin knew she had to find Tenzin.

"Aunt Katara?" Lin ventured, making sure her voice was just as even as Katara's was.

It was the only time Lin heard Katara's voice break at all that day, and she pulled it back in after.

"He's in your room."

Lin found him in the corner of their room, curled in on himself, knees pulled up to his chin, face buried in them, arms crossed over his knees. She couldn't see any part of him. Nothing other than the blue arrow on his forehead. Just like Aang's.

"Tenzin?"

He didn't respond.

"Tenzin," she knelt by him, placing a hand gently on the side of his face. She felt tears. As she got closer, she felt him shaking in silent sobs. She didn't try to move him. She just sat, pressed against him. Eventually, she watched him break. She heard the shuddering gasp and the next thing she knew, he had his arms locked around her. She tucked him under her chin and held him there for hours. She let her tears silently drop, making sure not to let go of Tenzin. His father had been everything to him. After a while, she had had to pick him up and guide him to the bathroom. Tenzin had cried so hard for so long he threw up. It made Lin sick with grief herself. He stopped when he had fallen asleep with his head on her shoulder, propped up against the wash tub in the bathroom, having cried himself into unconsciousness. Mother and Aunt Katara didn't move them for the rest of the day. Lin just carried Tenzin to the bed and curled up with him. She finally allowed herself to cry then, tears soaking the pillow under her. Lin made sure she was right by Tenzin. She didn't leave once. He was fragile, and she knew it. And Lin was strong. Lin was iron. She could hold him up. She always had.

They laid him on a small island in the middle of Yue Bay, at dusk, dressed in the formal orange and yellow monks robes he had worn all of his life. Aunt Katara had bended the water away from the bottom of the bay, and Mother had jumped all the way to the bottom, which was no small feat for her as terrified of deep water as she was. She pushed the earth up far above the waterline. It created a small, but almost perfectly circular, rocky island. She rejoined them on the small, bobbing boat after gently nestling Aang on the smooth stone. The entire city watched from the opposite shoreline, crowded along the banks of Republic City. They dropped floating, un-lit lanterns into the water. Even the Fire Lord, Lady, and Princess were there, which was a rare occurrence. Lin had always thought that Fire Lord Zuko was a staid, unemotional, severe sort of person. He was certainly quiet, and not a little awkward. And she thought that she was positive that Mai was incapable of emotion. She was proven so wrong that day. They both stood, ramrod straight, heads level, with eyes sparkling and flickering just like the fire they loved with unshed tears. Their daughter stood just the same. All of them, strong, grave, statues. Lin didn't know much about the fire nation or firebenders. But she decided that day that there was something about them she liked. They obviously felt emotion so keenly, and were still so strong against its force. There was a passion and power to them that she admired. Fire Lord Zuko and his daughter eventually stepped forward, in front of them all. In one, swift movement, Zuko lit every lantern in the bay. They flashed to life, glowing the same orange as Aang's robes. Zuko bowed for a long time, silent. His daughter followed suit. When they straightened he sighed, and began a complicated dance that his daughter joined in on. Lin noticed that Zuko's tears finally ran free now. The dance ended with their fists connected and it was then that the pyre ignited. The entire bay glowed, warm like Aang, between the lanterns and the fire. The wind rushed and the fire blazed on the stone pyre with the water lapping at the shore. It was not lost on Lin. All four elements danced together around Aang, a perfect balance. They stayed there all night, the entire city, in a silent vigil, until the fire died sometime just after dawn. Tenzin sighed against her. She had held him all night.

"Go on, Tenzin."

He nodded. Tenzin stepped forward and began a complicated dance of airbending forms that Lin knew was for funerals. It ended facing the pile of ashes on the pyre. Tenzin's hands formed a very soft, easy, spiraling breeze and his father's ashes were slowly carried away into the wind. Tenzin maintained it, standing still and stoic, until Aang had joined the air completely, to forever spin and spiral and fly with it in death as he had done in life. Then Lin had stepped forward with Mother, and following the sketch Sokka had given Lin, they raised a stone temple, with many carefully placed windows and hollow curves, in a few, intricate movements. Tenzin tested it out, forcing the strongest gust of wind he could into the building. As planned, as soon as the air blew through it, the structure erupted in a soothing, melancholy, light song. It would sing whenever the wind blew through it.

Together with the council, Fire Lord Zuko commissioned a statue of Aang to sit just on top of that temple. It would sit in the middle of Yue Bay. They would be able to see it from anywhere in the city. They named the island Aang Memorial Island. And so passed Avatar Aang, who Lin knew was and would always be the greatest Avatar who had ever lived.

Tenzin became troubled after his father's death. It was not unexpected. The fact that he was now the only airbender in existence hit him hard. Lin knew it would. But he started truly worrying Lin then. As if she needed anything else to worry about. It was the start of a rocky time in Republic City. Avatar Aang was gone. Their peacemaker was gone. And the new Avatar, of course, was an unknown infant somewhere in one of the water tribes. No one knew who it was, and even if they did, it would be nearly eighteen years before they were old enough to do much of anything at all as the Avatar. Now it was just the council, and the police force to back them up. The city became frustrated and restless. Crime flared. Of course she and Mother stamped it out, but they didn't used to have to try so hard to do it. And Tenzin was so grief-stricken. But the other complication was Tenzin's throwing himself into preserving airbending culture in one way in particular. It was an issue that Lin and Tenzin had discussed but never resolved. Tenzin wanted children. Lin did not. Before, they had brushed it off. It wasn't important then, Tenzin had resolved. Lin had hoped it would never be important. She hadn't anticipated this. Tenzin's insistence that he had to have children. That it was a must.

"Lin. If I don't, it dies with me. I've got to try for one, at least."

"But what happens if the first kid is an earthbender? Or a waterbender, like your mother? The child would have three different elements in its lineage. The likelihood that it'd be an airbender isn't good."

"We could try for more."

"So, what, I'm supposed to keep producing children until we get one that's the right kind of kid?!" Lin had snapped. She didn't want to be discussing this at all. She didn't want this. But she knew it was the only way to make this work. They didn't have a choice. Tenzin was right.

"I don't know, Lin!" he snapped back. "I don't know," he trailed off quietly.

"I guess we just...try?" she ventured, grudging.

"I guess so," he had shrugged.

And so they did. And Lin ignored the crushing dread she felt the day she sat, shaking, with Aunt Katara, who told her that she was pregnant. She couldn't help but notice, though, that Aunt Katara did not smile. Her bright, clear, loving blue eyes did not sparkle with tears like Lin thought they would. Katara had sighed, squeezed Lin's hand, run her fingers affectionately through Lin's dark hair with the other.

"Aunt Katara?"

She smiled at her sadly.

"You are brave, aren't you, child? And you really love him."

Lin hadn't spoken. Just stared.

"You're like your mother that way. Just remember to take care of yourself, sweetie."

Lin left without saying anything. She threw up when she got to their room, and not because of any sort of morning sickness. Tenzin wasn't there.

Lin did not tell Mother yet. She did not want to weather the storm that would ensue. It wasn't because Mother really cared either way what Lin did. It was that Mother knew her better than anyone and she would know that this wasn't what Lin wanted. If it had been accidental, that would be one thing. But it was deliberate, and she would know it. Mother would stare forward, eyes cast down and slightly off center, staring straight through her even in sightlessness. So Lin said nothing.

She did tell Tenzin, of course. He hadn't smiled either. He had sighed, relieved, a weary hand over his eyes. As if she had lifted a burden off of him. She had nestled up to him. But she felt no relief in it.

She never got to tell anyone else. It wasn't two months later that Katara found her on Lin and Tenzin's side of the temple, in their room, bleeding, silent, biting down on her shirt sleeve, curled up in the dry, small, clawed-foot tub.

"Oh, Lin," she had sighed, voice shaking with emotion she was trying to contain. Katara had gathered her out of the tub and stopped the bleeding before Lin bled too much.

"Don't tell Mother," Lin had whispered, teeth gritted.

"I should," Aunt Katara had scolded. "But I won't. But don't you dare do this again. It's dangerous for you, Lin. I'm sorry, but that's the way it is."

Lin had said nothing. She couldn't accept that. There was no other choice. Katara had growled under her breath.

"But I know you, you're not going to listen to me. Just please be careful, Lin. Wait a few months. And stay around here as much as you can so I'm close to you. Because it'll happen again, I can nearly guarantee it. We can't lose you only a year after Aang."

Lin closed her eyes. She missed Aang. She thought he might know what to do about this mess. Really, the mess hadn't even started until after he was gone. If he were here, maybe it wouldn't be like this.

Katara broke the news to Tenzin before Lin could get to him. Lin suspected that she told him that it was dangerous to try again. But she knew Tenzin was desperate. And she could see why. She never told him that she had cried with him because she had been relieved and knew the relief would not last. Because she knew that it would happen again and was afraid that this time, she'd carry her pregnancy to term.

It took a few months, but Lin did conceive again. Aunt Katara gravely told her so, but she didn't stop there.

"Lin. You need to tell your mother. She'll want to try and help you. I stayed true to my word, I didn't say anything. But I doubt she's as fooled as you think she is. It's hard to keep much from her, you know that."

Lin nodded unconvincingly. She suspected Aunt Katara knew that she wasn't going to listen to her. But Katara was never one not to speak her mind. Lin knew she was in for it with Aunt Katara when she watched her lock her fists on her hips and set her jaw, which was something she and her cousins had feared for the entirety of their young lives and a good part of their adult ones. Katara had a fiery temper that flared far faster and hotter than her mother's. Mother was more of a grudge-holder, with a slow build of a temper. She got annoyed easily, and would mouth-off often, but her true temper wasn't near as violent. Katara's was quick and scalding, like a firebender's.

"Lin Bei Fong, you are so thoroughly convinced that you know best! I have spent most of my adult life wrangling with Bei Fongs! I know how you work! You're as stubborn as ostrich-horses, so resistant to change it makes me want to pull my hair out! I am not your mother, but I've known you just as long as she has! I delivered you, child, I held you and saw you before she even did!"

"Mother's never actually _seen_ me, so-"

"Spirits!" Katara cursed, spitting mad, "You're just like her, down to the damn blind jokes! You knew what I meant, so stop trying to distract me! The fact is, you should've listened to me the first time when I told you that pregnancy is dangerous for you! But no, Lin knows best! You're worrying me to death! You're a ticking time bomb, Lin! You _will_ miscarry, you will _always_ miscarry. I knew that when you bled so hard last time! And if you keep going like this, you will kill yourself! I can't do anything about it right now, since you've gone and gotten pregnant again when I told you not to and when we both know you didn't want to in the first place! I told Tenzin it was a bad idea, too, and he'll get the same thing if not worse from me later. Tenzin must have children, yes. But you both have to face the fact that you can't carry them. There are other options, Lin. Get a damn surrogate if you have to! People in all the nations have been doing that since _forever_ for situations just like this one. But quit butting your head against a rock that is not budging and will never budge! For once in your life, quit thinking like a stubborn earthbender for just a moment! You have to go around the rock, child! Because beating your brains out against it isn't working!"

Lin hadn't said a thing in reply. First, she knew that arguing with Aunt Katara was hazardous to her health. Second, she knew that Aunt Katara was right. But for now, she couldn't do much but see if this time things worked out. She knew it wasn't likely. But it was done, so she couldn't do much but go forward.

It lasted longer the second time. Lin felt a mixture of hope and terror when she passed the mark she had made it to last time. Maybe this time it would work. She closed her eyes, a nightmarish vision flitting behind her eyes of herself in the very same room, a mewling, squalling infant in her arms.

But Aunt Katara was right. Lin should've known. Aunt Katara was always right. But unfortunately for Lin, she was not at Air Temple Island this time around. She had cursed wildly as she felt the pain while walking through the halls of headquarters. And she knew then if she thought she had been in for it before, she was in real trouble now. She would have to go to the lavatory that connected to the office she shared with Mother. Mother wasn't there presently, but Lin knew she would come back soon. Lin cursed over and over, rocking on the floor of the small, square room. And she steeled herself when she heard mother's calloused, purposed bare feet pad across the cool stone of the floor outside.

"Lin?"

Mother planted her feet flatter across the floor, feeling for her.

"Lin?!"

Lin had tried feebly to barricade the door. As if that would stop the greatest earthbender who had ever lived. Mother swatted the door clean off its steel hinges as if it were a feather.

"Spirits, Lin, is that blood?!" Mother had exclaimed, staring ahead. Lin knew she could probably smell it. Lin was grateful that Mother couldn't see the way it covered her hands, a menacing scarlet. Mother didn't give her time to answer.

"So this is twice now you've kept it from me."

"What?"

"Lin, I knew. I knew the entire time. I'm not sure why you didn't tell me, and I suppose that's not my business. But I did know about it, make no mistake."

"How did-"

"Lin, if I can tell people are lying just by their heartbeats, I can tell other things, too. Pregnant women's hearts sound different. Katara's did, mine did. And Lin, I know your heartbeat better than my own. I heard the difference straight away, and I heard it when it went back to normal for a while, and when it changed again. And I can hear it now, hammering away like a stampede of sabretooth mooselions."

Lin could hear the anger in Mother's voice.

"You're angry with me."

"Damn straight, I am! Because I love you and I know this is not what you want. And I'm angry with you for selling yourself short, Lin."

"Mother, what am I supposed to do?"

"Not put yourself in danger for something you don't even want."

"But he _has_ to."

"Yes _he_ does. But _you_ don't and you can't! You could try to find another way. But you don't even really want that, Lin! Look at me and tell me I'm wrong! Look at me and tell me that and I will leave you alone about it right here and right now."

Lin couldn't, of course.

"I'm angry with you for even considering doing something that is so against what you want that your heart goes insane when you think about it. This is not something you commit to lightly, Lin! And you knew that! You knew that it was a life commitment that you did not want and you were going to do it anyway?! It wasn't a decision that you could've dealt with or altered, like moving elsewhere or even getting married. This would've tied you down for life. And that's what it would've felt like to you, always. It's not fair to you, and what's worse, it wouldn't have been fair to the child! What would you have felt like if you secretly knew all your life that I didn't want you?"

"I've known all my life that I was an accident," Lin snapped, in pain and angry with both Mother and herself. She knew that she couldn't have been planned. She knew enough about Mother and her personality to know that.

"But not one that I was so vehemently opposed to that I would've been _relieved_ had I miscarried! I actually had to fight for you! Everyone on the force told me I could kiss my job goodbye if I carried you. And they thought I was crazy to have you! They all thought I wasn't woman enough to take care of you because I wasn't soft and I didn't go clucking at everyone like a mother hen like Katara did! So of course, I said this," Mother made a terribly rude gesture, "and did whatever the hell I wanted. And I wanted you, Lin, I always did. I could've made arrangements if I hadn't."

"Well, I'm sorry that I'm not woman enough to want to deal with a screaming child for the rest of my natural life!"

"That's not what I said, Lin, and you know it!" Mother barked. "I could give a squirrel-rat's ass whether you want children or not! I have always told you that you could be and do whatever you wanted and that I would never judge you for it and that I would love you the same regardless. I'm not angry that you don't want children. I think it's great! As long as it's what you want! I'm angry because you knew that and were going to hurt yourself doing something you were going to hate for the rest of your life. No one is worth that, Lin. Whether you had the capability to have children or not, he's not worth it."

"What are you saying?" Lin gritted her teeth.

"You know exactly what I'm saying. Whether you take my advice or not is your business. But I think we both know how this is going to end."

Lin had curled in on herself then, covering her head with her hands.

"Come on, Linny-bear," Mother was suddenly kneeling on the ground beside her, picking her up off the floor. "Get off the ground. We're going to see Katara. You don't sound good. We can deal with the rest of this mess later," she said with the same gentle firmness she always used with Lin.

Lin and Mother stumbled across Sokka along the way, who took one look at Lin's grey, wan face and sprinted towards the bay ahead of them, signaling Katara to bring Oogie to pick them up. Poor Appa was gone. Died not even twenty-four hours after Aang, and cried the whole eight hours they were apart. Katara had to work hard and fast. Neither Lin nor her mother had realized quite how quickly she had been bleeding.

"I told you not to. I told you both," Katara had whispered shakily, working furiously, terrified.

"_And_ you disobeyed Katara. Word to the wise, kid. Don't. She's rarely wrong."

"I'm _never_ wrong."

"Sure, sugar queen," Mother had chuckled softly in a jab they both knew was empty.

"Please tell me you've knocked some sense into her, Toph," Katara had pleaded.

"As much as I could. I can't do much beyond telling her that she's an idiot, which I did, of course," Mother said, trying to hide her fear behind her bravado, as usual.

Katara did manage to heal her enough for the bleeding to stop. When she did, she sighed, shaking her head, perturbed but relieved.

"You scared the life out of me, child. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do anything. Don't you _dare_ do anything like that again!"

Lin shook her head, wordless. It would never happen again. She knew what she had to do.

Lin was going to do it anyway. So maybe she should've been relieved. All of her guilt was certainly absolved. Tenzin had options now. But she wasn't relieved. She doubted she had ever been so hurt and so angry in her life. She had never seen her coming.

Tenzin had come to her on the same day that she had intended on breaking things off. It was going to nearly break her, she knew. But it was no longer working. Their paths had crossed for so long, but they had split so far apart by now that she couldn't conceive of a way to make it work. She hated it. She loved Tenzin with all she had. He had been her freeing breath of air. But with this whole mess with making sure that the airbending line continued, there was no way. Aunt Katara was right. Mother was right. Tenzin would not be the freeing presence he was if she was tied down by children she didn't want. If children weren't in the mix, Lin was sure she could've happily lived alongside him for the rest of her life. But her Tenzin wouldn't be her Tenzin anymore with the way things had to be.

She wished Tenzin had let her speak first. Even now, Lin grits her teeth, livid, when she thinks about it. She told him to let her speak first. And he had insisted. Knowing what she was about to do to him, she had conceded. At first, she had been relieved when he said he thought ending things was probably best for them both. She was opening her mouth to agree with him when he mentioned that there was someone else, so she didn't have to feel guilty, he had reasoned. That he knew she'd feel like she was abandoning him. She had told him so once. She didn't have to worry about that now. He said that he knew they had been drifting apart for a while, and that they, this unknown woman and he, had been growing closer. It was the natural process of things. At first, she was relieved, until she put two-and-two together. They were breaking things off _now_. Which meant that, in order to know he had feelings at all for this unknown girl, he had to have been seeing her for at least a short while while they were still together. Never mind that they hadn't really drifted apart, that there was just a rift created by a conflict between what Lin wanted out of life and what Tenzin _had _to do. Never mind that if those circumstances hadn't been in place, nothing would've stopped them from peacefully living out their lives together. Unless Lin was mistaken. Unless this unknown other woman would've ruined it all anyway. It didn't matter. What mattered was that, unless she had missed a detail somewhere, Tenzin had been seeing her at some point while they were still together. She felt sick. Lin had trusted him. She didn't trust easily. She was a guarded sort of person, fortified with rock and steel. And he had betrayed her trust horribly. Lin couldn't stop herself.

"What. do. you. mean. there's. someone. else?" she spat.

Tenzin's eyes had widened. He understood, too late, that he had made an egregious error.

"I-"

"Tenzin, if you don't tell me the truth, I guarantee that your ass is rubble. I'll punt you halfway across Yue Bay. And you know I'll know if you're lying. Tell the truth and tell it fast before I punch the arrow off your head," Lin had warned him, quiet like the hiss of a snake.

Tenzin knew he was caught. He stammered, slowly backing away from Lin. She didn't give an inch. She stalked him the entire way until he had backed himself up against a tree.

"Tell me the truth," Lin had growled, embarrassed that her voice shook. She had been embarrassed a lot in the last few months. Lin Bei Fong did not cry if she could help it. She simply did not do it. And she had shed more tears in the past few months than she had since she was a toddler. "If I'm overreacting, or I've missed something somewhere, tell me quick. But if you did what I think you did, you better tell me that, too. And remember, I'll know if you lie to me."

"I'm sorry! Her name is Pema and she works in the Republic City Library. I've known of her for years. I'm in there a lot on council business. She didn't even start talking to me properly until this past year, not too long after Father died. Two months ago, she just up and told me she had loved me for years! I had no idea what to do! It came out of nowhere! And I knew you were so upset after what had happened, and that you hated the idea of having children, and that I had to. I knew this might happen, so I decided to see if there was any future with this girl at all! I thought it might help us both if there was. It would solve a lot of problems. I talked to her just yesterday about this. I told her I was going to tell you what I'm telling you right now."

"What, that nineteen year old?! It _would_ have helped both of us if you had just told me all of that two months ago when she said that to you. We could've agreed to see how things would work out with her. Instead, you just went around me and didn't tell me a damn thing! And you spoke to her just yesterday! Do you know where I was yesterday?! Do you know why I was already here, with your mother, instead of at work!? Why I was home so early?!" she shrieked.

Tenzin opened and closed his mouth like a fish gasping for air, shaking his head.

"I was pregnant again! I didn't tell you because you were obviously upset last time and I wasn't going to say a thing until things were sure! And I was miscarrying in the middle of your mother's sitting room yesterday, after it all started at work, of course, just to add some insult to it! Katara almost didn't get to me in time! I was bleeding out in a bathroom in headquarters while you and that _child_ calmly discussed how you were going to break things off with me! I didn't even want it! I did it for you, which I never should've done, and you don't even show the decency to _tell_ me that you're frolicking around with someone else behind my back!"

"Lin, I had no idea," Tenzin had whispered, stricken.

"I know. I should've told you. But that doesn't change the fact that you didn't tell _me_. If you had told me two months ago about this damn girl, I wouldn't have been bleeding like a stuck pig yesterday, and I would've felt like you gave two shits about me! You didn't tell me, you just let me keep on believing that we were trying to make this work, and then tell me today that now that you have a sure backup, it's safe to drop me!"

Tenzin said nothing. Just stared, shocked, at her. She could feel the furious tears start and she sucked them back in, swallowing hard. She had given everything. She had poured every last ounce of herself into this relationship. And for what? It obviously didn't mean much to him. He didn't even care enough to tell her. She couldn't say anything more to him. She just turned and strode off to pack her things. She was getting off this infernal island as soon as she could.

"Lin, wait-"

A sheet of rock half the size of the temple shot up between them.

"Lin! Just let me talk for a second-"

"You've done enough talking. Shut up and get away from me!" she shouted, loud enough for the entire temple to hear.

"Lin-"

"Let her go, kid," Lin heard Uncle Sokka huff, sprinting towards Tenzin. "And for Spirits' sake, don't try to stop her unless you want an earth pillar to the face."

Lin threw what few possessions she had in a bag that Katara had wordlessly and sadly handed her as she crossed the threshold. Lin didn't want to be there any longer than she had to. But Katara did stop her just before she left.

"I'm sorry it got so ugly so quickly. I'll miss seeing your face around here," she sighed. "But I agree with you. You need to get away from here. Go stay with your mother for a while. Then get a place of your own. Live _your_ life. Don't worry about anyone else's."

"Yes ma'am."

"Good girl." Katara embraced her, strong, warm, and melancholy before releasing her.

"Bye, Lin."

Lin nodded and after that she all but ran out of the house. Uncle Sokka wouldn't let her go, either, without one more word. It was because they knew they might not see her for a while after this.

"Lin! Hold on! Let me give you a ride on Oogie. You don't want to try to swim the bay with that armor on."

"I could take a boat."

"Lin, please."

She sighed.

"You should take your own advice, Uncle Sokka. Didn't you say something about an earth pillar?"

But Lin climbed on the bison just the same. It was the fastest way off the island. Sokka didn't say much. But he did throw his arms around her neck like Katara had as the bison landed on the other side of the bay.

"Don't be a stranger. And take care of yourself. Neither you, nor your mother are particularly good at that."

Lin gave him the same nod.

"Bye, Uncle Sokka."

He waved sadly and took off on Oogie back towards the island. Lin went straight to Mother's house. Mother was at headquarters, of course. Lin was supposed to be there later. She dumped what little she had brought from Air Temple Island unceremoniously in her old room. And then she headed back out into the city, determined, with iron resolve.

Lin will forever remember the look on the girl's face. It still makes her chuckle a bit. She hadn't seen Lin coming, just like Lin hadn't seen her. She is willing to bet the girl still wonders how Lin figured out where she lived.

Lin gave the door to the small flat in a residential area of Republic City three, sharp raps. And when Pema opened the door, she nearly swallowed her tongue, seeing Lin there in full uniform, glowering at her.

"I...y-yes c-c-captain Bei Fong?"

"You're under arrest."

"What?!" she squeaked, looking like she was about to choke.

"You heard me," Lin snapped, sharp as a steel knife.

"F-for what? What are the charges?"

Lin didn't even try to hide her shrug.

"Stealing, I suppose."

Lin raised an arm to bind the girl's wrists. She got the cable looped once when another cable wound around her arm.

"You could've at least _tried_ to frame her for something, short stuff. Honestly, I'm a bit disappointed."

"Mother, stay out of this."

"You know I can't do that. Cut her loose, Lin. You know you can't do this."

"Like hell I can't!" Lin had roared. Pema had started shaking then.

"Lin-" Mother had warned.

"Leave me alone!"

"Captain Bei Fong, as Chief of Police, and _your_ commander, I order you to release her."

Lin snarled, throwing the cables off of Pema. She then proceeded to rip the majority of the front steps of Pema's building out of the ground, tossing them, slamming them into the street for no other reason than she had had it. Mother immediately repaired the dent, returning the steps to their original place.

"Lin, stop it!"

"Why should I?! Why should everyone else's life work out perfectly like a pretty little fairy tale and mine gets thrown to the side?!"

Lin couldn't handle it anymore. Every bit of rock she didn't throw at Tenzin, every bit of cable she didn't use to bind that girl from here to the fire nation, every bit of anger that had built up over half a year came out now, like floodwaters rushing out of a dam. She threw up a boulder in Mother's direction. Mother flicked it out of the way.

"You really want to fight me, kiddo? Or have you forgotten who your own mother is?"

Lin didn't know what she wanted other than to throw all her frustration out at the only person she knew who had the physical capacity to handle it. She threw up a rock wall that was nearly taller than the surrounding buildings and kicked it towards her mother. Mother had a taller and thicker one up in the blink of a blind eye and the two crashed together deafeningly, like a clap of thunder just after something metal has been struck by lightning. Pema just stood and cowered as her front stoop turned into a full-out bending battle between the two Bei Fong women. Lin was sure it was one of the most destructive incidents in Republic City's history. The paved streets were reduced to fine-ground gravel, front steps and awnings ripped from their buildings, small ravines snaking four and five blocks away from the scene. Eventually, her anger made her slip and Mother had her bound up so tightly Lin wasn't sure she'd ever get back out. She was sure that Mother was putting her in jail. After all, she had just tried to imprison an innocent woman and destroyed the neighborhood she lived in. But Mother dragged her home and didn't release her until she had sealed off all entrances and exits to the room they were in.

"You just cost me a lot of money and yourself a lot of paperwork, Lin! This had better be good! I should probably make you explain to me why I should let you keep your badge except that you're obviously so upset you can't see reason! What the hell is going on?!" Mother had roared, furious.

"How did you know where I was?" Lin asked, confused. She thought Mother had figured out what was going on when she showed up at Pema's.

"Katara called me, panicking, telling me I should go to this poor girl's address and make sure she was safe from _you_. She said there probably wasn't time to explain! What has gotten into you, Lin?!"

Lin finally let out the tears she had been holding in since Tenzin started speaking. Mother had raised her eyebrows.

"Lin, what happened?!"

"Tenzin. I went to end things today. He was going to do the same thing. Except he told me that he had met her. He was trying to make sure he didn't make me feel guilty, like I was leaving him alone. Which I did feel like before, but then he told me about her. That he was seeing her for the last two months. He was talking with her about ending things with me yesterday. Yesterday, Mother! Yesterday, they were talking about getting rid of me while Katara was trying to keep me alive! And it was all because of him! None of it would've happened if he had just told me and he didn't even give me that courtesy. Why didn't he just tell me?! I should never have done any of this! I gave him everything I had and he just didn't care. And it hurts," she gasped, truly sobbing for the first time since she was young. And when she looked up, she was surprised to find tears on Mother's face, too.

"I know it does, my little badgermole. Oh, how I know."

"Mother?"

"I had hoped it wouldn't happen to you, too," she whispered, running a hand under her eyes.

"Mother, what?"

"I had hoped that things would be better for you. That things would work out in your favor where they didn't work in mine. I'm so sorry, Lin."

Lin knew then that Mother was talking about someone she had loved. It was something Mother never mentioned. Lin wondered if she was talking about her father. She had never told Lin who her father was and Lin had never asked. She could tell it was something that Mother wanted to forget. And it didn't really matter who Lin's father was when her _mother_ was Toph Bei Fong. Lin had no idea who Mother was talking about, or whether it was her father or not. Or even if it was more than one person. All she knew is that Mother understood far better than she had ever thought.

"The same thing happened to you." It was a statement, not a question. Mother nodded.

"Made it pretty clear I was second best, too. And like your Tenzin, didn't necessarily mean to hurt me that badly. But no one understands what it means if one of us falls for them. We fall hard, fast, and completely. We aren't trusting, short stuff, so when we do finally trust someone, it's major. They don't understand what they've done to us. They don't understand that we don't move on to other people like they do. We get stuck on one and then that's that. For good or for ill. And it seems like it's been for ill for the both of us. And I hate it. I wanted it to be different for you."

"It's not fair," Lin had sobbed, growling. "Why us?"

"Because we're not normal women, Lin. We don't operate the same way everyone else does. Because where that simpering weakling of a girl would've died if the same thing happened to her, you won't. You'll survive. It's what we do. We are stronger than everyone else, my love. We get saddled with the burdens because we're the only ones tough enough to handle them and the universe knows it."

And Lin knew her mother was right. She would survive. Because that's what she was. It didn't mean there wouldn't be scarring. But where someone else would bleed to death, she wouldn't. She would heal. And there would be irreparable damage. But she was tough enough to handle it where no one else was.

"How do you handle it alone?" Lin whispered.

"Well I wasn't alone. I only thought I was. It took me a while to figure that out. But I did, finally. I had had you all along. You'll do the same thing. You'll think you're alone, and one day you'll turn around and find that someone does love you best. It's not necessarily who you thought it was, and it's not a spouse. Lin, the true loves of your life won't be who you think," she smirked. "It won't be a whirlwind romance, or even romantic love at all. Maybe it was for Katara, and maybe it will be for Tenzin, or for Kya or Bumi. But it's not that way for everyone. Sometimes the loves of your life are your friends, or teachers, or a parent, or a child. For me, it was you."

Lin nodded, digesting what Mother had said.

"It still hurts like a bitch."

Mother cackled bitterly.

"It will. It'll get a little better, but it'll always hurt. In the mean time, come here, kid. Take one of these. Or two or three if you need to."

Mother pushed a small glass of sharp-smelling liquor towards her. Lin had smirked and downed four of them. Mother clapped her on the back, proud.

"Good job, Lin. You're gonna put me to shame."

She sighed before continuing. "You'll be okay, Lin. Bei Fongs survive. I did. And you will, too. I have no doubt."

_**Hope you all enjoyed Chapter 4! As always, drop by and leave a review and tell me what you thought! Until next time!**_

_**~Belmione**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**_

Lin did do just as Mother said. It took so long. Years. Mother could tell which days were the bad days, where Lin would snap viciously and was on edge all day. But she did get better, with a lot of Mother's help. Mother kept her going. She did as Aunt Katara said and stayed with Mother for a while before moving in somewhere just a few blocks from Headquarters. She focused on what _she _wanted, which was to prepare herself as well as possible for taking over as Chief of Police someday. It was tough work, as always. Especially because Republic City had some rampant crime erupting in the outskirts. It was tough to keep the city on the even keel it had been on when Aang was still alive. Keeping a balance was arduous work and Lin wasn't sure she and Mother were achieving it. But still, Lin watched the city keep growing, just as Aang had wanted it to. Some changes were wonderful. Others, a little sad. Lin remembers Uncle Sokka retiring from the council as the Southern Water Tribe representative. He was getting tired. He, Aunt Katara, and Mother were all getting older. She watched Katara's hair start to turn tundra-white, watched Sokka's do the same. Mother's hair never did turn white, Lin noted, amused. It was as gray as the iron of the the jail cells in the other wing of headquarters. It rather suited her. She watched Katara leave Republic city, moving back down to her home in the Southern Water Tribe. They had found the new Avatar a few years back, a little girl in the southern tribe, and Katara was to be her waterbending teacher. Sokka and Katara had been overjoyed. Their tribe had grown from a small tent village of fifteen people to a thriving tribe again. And the new Avatar was from their tribe. Lin remembers Katara's smile when she heard. That Aang's spirit was living on as it should, and that the Avatar had been born to her home. Sokka stayed in the city. Sokka loved Republic City and Lin knew he'd never leave it. She watched, with a little distaste, the new Southern Water Tribe representative get elected. It was a younger man she didn't know well, but Lin knew she didn't quite trust him. His name was Tarrlok. Mother didn't like him much either.

"Keep your eyes on him," she had commanded. "I would but, you know-"

Lin rolled her eyes, smiling.

With a great ache in her chest, she watched Tenzin marry that silly girl who was nearly 16 years his junior. And she watched her carry their first child, a little girl who looked a lot like her mother from what Lin could tell from afar, watching them around the city. She heard from Sokka that the girl had Aang's nose exactly. And a few months later, she heard from Sokka that she was an airbender. Lin sighed and mother had squeezed her shoulder. Just what Tenzin had wanted. But Lin was moving on. She was happy where she was, working alongside Mother, helping the city that Aang had built grow by keeping it safe, with Mother and Sokka, who had helped him build it. For Lin, that was mostly trying to wrangle with the bending triads who liked to terrorize non-benders in the outskirts of the city. Her officers dealt with smaller, individual crimes, and she concentrated on the more organized, violent crime. Of course, Mother always came along, too. Lin marveled at how she was just as active as she was when Lin was a little girl. And Mother loved nothing more than throwing idiot criminals in prison.

It was on one such call, a particularly rough one. An unusual one. There were rumors of strange masked criminals afoot in one of the outer boroughs of the city. No one had any information on what type of benders they were. What she and Mother had found wasn't anything they had expected. They weren't benders at all. Lin mused that they were from some sort of rogue organization that wanted to take back control of the borough that the Agni Kai Triad had taken over. But they were good. They had all sorts of technology that Lin had never seen before. But Lin and her mother could handle most of it. Until the smoke. The band of what looked to be non-benders threw down some sort of can and it erupted in a gaseous smoke that blinded Lin. Mother, of course, was unperturbed other than asking, annoyed, "What's that smell? Ugh."

When Lin heard the sharp whistle, she had no idea what it was. But Mother had.

"Damn! They're knife-throwers."

"What?!"

"You remember how Mai used to let you all watch her at target practice?"

"Yes."

"Those kinds of knife-throwers."

"Can you tell where they are?"

"Yeah. Stay close to me."

Lin had obeyed until mother stopped her.

"Wait. Don't move," she had whispered. "I'm missing one. I think he jumped or something. Be careful, Lin, I don't know where he is."

Lin didn't have time to think. The next thing she knew, there was searing pain across her right cheek, down her jaw. The knives had screamed right by her, cutting two, clean lines across the right side of her face. It even sheared a small curl of hair off. Mother was in front of her, and with a shout, Mother flung half of her reel of cable at them. Lin took care of the remaining three that Mother didn't already have bound up.

"Do we have them all, Mother?"

"I have three. You should have three, too."

"Then we have them. Come on, you all are under arrest."

"Lin?"

"Yes, Mother?"

"We're going to need to call someone else to take them in, short stuff. Just call Saikhan. We're going to need to move on immediately after this."

"What?"

"Just trust me, kiddo."

Lin did as asked before turning to her mother. She was curled over, with a hand under her armor.

"Mother, are you alright?"

Lin had expected her to wave her off, unconcerned, as usual. But she didn't.

"I don't think so, Linny."

"Do we need to go back home for a few hours-"

Lin stopped as Mother pulled a hand away from her lower midsection and it came away scarlet.

"Mother?!"

"Yeah, they got me," she laughed. "It went up under my armor, at an angle. There wasn't time to tell you to duck or anything. I barely even felt him coming. He was hanging in the air off a rope. Must've heard how I operate," she chuckled, strained. "Earthbending sight and weaknesses in the armor and all. You couldn't see him because of the gas. But I could," she grinned, gesturing to her feet.

"Mother, you jumped in front of me?!" Lin had shrieked.

"Of course. You really think I was gonna let them get to you? Looks like I didn't manage to stop it all," she gestured to the stinging, bleeding, open wounds on Lin's face. They were big enough that Mother could see them with her bending.

"We have to get you somewhere."

"Yeah," Mother had finally sighed, grimacing. "It doesn't feel so good."

"We have to call Headquarters."

But Mother shook her head. "Sokka doesn't live far from here. Go there."

"Mother, why?!"

"Linny, I don't think there's a healer in the city good enough to fix this. I think the only hope for me is Katara. We'll need to get Sokka to ask Tenzin if we can borrow Oogie. We'll have to fly to her."

"How long will that take?!"

"A day or so if we don't stop flying."

Lin had to half-carry her mother the few blocks to Uncle Sokka's. She couldn't even use the zip-line cables around the city. She wouldn't have the strength to hold both herself and mother. Sokka paled as soon as he opened the door, seeing Lin's wild eyes and Mother, huddled over, with a blood-red hand held to her side.

"Call Tenzin to bring Oogie," Lin had ordered, shaking. "We have to get her to Aunt Katara."

"Yeah, you do," Sokka had nodded vigorously. He was on the phone in minutes.

"Bring Oogie, Tenzin! Now! No, _right now_. I don't care what Jinora is doing, I don't care if she starts speaking in full sentences in the three minutes you're gone! Your Aunt Toph may be hemorrhaging on my doorstep. Bring the bison _now!_"

Lin didn't even look at Tenzin when he landed. She couldn't do a thing but watch Mother breathe through her nose laboriously. Sokka helped her get mother on top of the bison in the huge saddle. Lin gingerly placed her mother's head in her lap. She didn't think she heard Sokka even say a 'thank you' or 'goodbye' to Tenzin. He was at the reins and the next thing Lin knew, they were airborne. It was the longest wait of Lin's life, that flight. She could do nothing but hold Mother's hand as she held her side with the other and grimaced. Mother obviously wasn't hemorrhaging because she was still with them. Lin managed to bind the wound with scraps of cloth off a spare shirt that Sokka had with him. She managed to stop the bleeding for the most part. They flew all night and into the next day.

"How close are we, Uncle Sokka?" Lin asked, nervous. They had been flying for a long time.

"Spirits, kid, can't ya feel the cold?!" he had chuckled a little. "We're essentially there."

But Lin couldn't feel anything but Mother's ragged breath. They landed in the middle of the day. Lin had never seen the south pole before that day. She supposed it would've had a monotonous, stark beauty to it had she not been so terrified. There hadn't been time to warn Katara that they were coming. But Katara was running out to them before they had even landed. Lin supposed she had seen the bison and knew that it couldn't mean anything good. Lin barely noticed the child trailing innocently after Katara and didn't pay much attention to the kid even after that. She tugged at the tail of Katara's coat.

"I'm sorry, Korra, I didn't mean to run out and leave you in there," Katara told her quickly. "Some friends of mine are in some trouble and I have to help them out straight away. No lesson today. Just practice the forms I taught you. Do you remember those?" she asked.

"You bet I do!" the child had grinned, wide and brash.

"Good, practice those. You can go home for the day."

The unknown child dashed off and Katara turned to Mother and grimaced.

"Get her inside. What happened?"

"Knife throwers. Small, sharp ones, like Mai used to use. We got her here as soon as we could."

"Can you do anything?" Lin had asked, panicked.

"I'm not sure, Lin. Just let me see what I can do. Wait out here."

Lin and Sokka sat in Katara's sitting room for hours. It looked so different from the one on Air Temple Island. It was cozier. Warm, despite the raging cold outside. Lin would've welcomed the cold, though. Her palms were slick with nervous sweat. She sat, head on Uncle Sokka's shoulder, all day, until finally Katara came out from her bedroom, where they had put Mother. Lin did not like the weary look on her face.

"I've tried everything. I don't know what else to do," she choked. "I can't fix it."

"We should've gotten her here sooner-"

"No, Lin. It wouldn't have mattered," Aunt Katara shook her head. "It's beyond repair. It was as soon as those knives hit her. It wouldn't have mattered if I had been right there-"

"There's got to be _something_-"

Katara shook her head.

"There's nothing. I've tried it all, Lin. I don't want to lose her either. But there's nothing anyone can do now. It's done. I suggest you two go say what you need to say," and here, Lin saw her Aunt Katara's eyes well up and spill over. "I already have."

Lin couldn't breathe. This couldn't be true. Mother couldn't die. She was Toph Bei Fong. Lin had always thought of her as untouchable, immortal. It simply couldn't be true. But she could tell it was true as Katara put a shaking hand over her mouth.

"Sokka, get your butt in here!" Mother had called out.

Uncle Sokka was in worse shape than Katara. Lin knew Sokka and Mother were best friends. Partners in crime. They had been since they were children. Sokka was already sobbing as he went back to his sister's bedroom. Lin stared at the floor of the small house, staring at the warm pelts strewn about the floor until Sokka reappeared a while later.

"She wants to see you," he whispered, voice thick with tears. Lin stood up. Her limbs felt impossibly heavy. She slipped into the back room of the house.

"Lin! It's getting...dark! I'm going..._blind!_ Can't...see!"

"Mother, please don't joke right now."

Mother had cackled feebly.

"When else am I going to do it? You have heard that I'm dying, right?"

"Mother, please!" Lin exclaimed, voice trembling.

"I have to fit as many blind jokes in as possible! I don't have much time left!"

Lin had sighed, but couldn't help but laugh through her tears.

"That's what I wanted to hear. Come sit with me, Linny," Mother had patted the space to her left. "I did the same thing to Sokka. He wasn't pleased."

"Did he laugh?"

"Yup! He didn't want to though," she grinned. "He wasn't pleased because he fell for it first."

Lin laughed again before the weight in the room settled around her again.

"Mother, why did you jump in front of me? I could've handled it."

"Lin, no one could've handled it. Anyone who jumped in front of those things was a goner, no matter what. I knew that when I did it. I wasn't going to let you die. You're the future of that city. And, I suppose it's selfish, but I knew I wasn't strong enough to watch you go. That's not the way it's supposed to work. I was getting all old anyway. And I must say, I've always kinda wanted to go out fighting. And who better to fight for?"

Lin had sighed, unconvinced.

"That's part of what Bei Fongs do, kid. They sacrifice for what they love and what they know is right. You're supposed to be around for a while. I know that's right. And I love you more than anything. I'd give more if I had anything left to give."

"But you're not supposed to _die_!"

"Sure I am. Everyone is supposed to die at some point. This is how I'm supposed to go. Bei Fongs know when it's time to leave. My mother used to tell me that. I don't think this is exactly what she meant by it, but I think it suits the occasion. I'm happy that this is how I'm going out. Do you really think your crazy mother would want to go all peaceful and sleeping like Twinkletoes did?"

"I guess not."

"You guess right. But I also guess this is where Mother needs to stop joking and say what she needs to say. First things first," Mother reached up and plucked the gold police chief badge off the headband she always wore. "This is yours now. Don't worry about doing everything right. You won't do everything right, but you will get most of it right. And you'll be good at it. You might as well have been the chief for a while now. I'm giving you my city. Protect it with every last ounce of strength you have."

"I will."

"I know you will. Second, stay here with Aunt Katara and Uncle Sokka for a few weeks before going back. I know you. You'll want to dive right into work thinking you'll be able to forget everything that way, and you'll just bottle it up and end up trying to arrest some poor random woman who didn't do anything-"

"Mother."

"I'm kidding. About the arrest thing. But not about staying here for a while. Saikhan can take care of things until you get back. Promise me you'll do that."

"I promise."

"Third. Try not to hold grudges too badly. It's something I did that I'm currently regretting on my deathbed, so I figured I'd pass that memo on to you since you hold grudges as bad as I do. You might regret it when it's important, so try to hold off on it. Deathbed regrets aren't too fun. You can't go fix it, you see."

"And that includes Tenzin. I'm not saying you have to be good friends with him. But you two spent your childhood together. That's valuable. Don't throw it away completely. And I have this feeling that you two are still linked somehow. Not in the way you think. Just, keep an eye on Tenzin and don't be too mean to him. Slap him around a bit, sure, but be kind when you can. Forgive as much as you can."

"Fourth, please, have them bury me somewhere with earth. I know they'll have to put me out here somewhere. It won't do to go flying halfway back across the world with me in tow. But have them dig for some stone or something. Snow isn't my style. I just want to know I'll be close to the earth. I can handle it if that's true," the very first bit of anything resembling fear seeped into Mother's voice.

"You will be, I promise."

"Fifth. I want a statue. Twinkletoes got one. I want one."

"Spirits, Mother. Okay. Do you want it on Headquarters?"

"Oo, good idea! Yeah! And make it big. Make it the focal point of the building."

"Fine," Lin chuckled through her tears.

"Good. And really the last thing I have to say is about you. I didn't expect you, you know. And I didn't know how things would turn out, having you. But you ended up being my favorite person in the world, since I first heard your heartbeat. Like I told you before, sometimes the love of your life isn't the person you expect. And for me it was you. And I am so proud of you I don't know where to start. You've always gone after what you wanted and just made it happen. Nothing's ever stood in your way. And you're a good person. You know what's right. I feel safe knowing the city is in your hands. You've done such a good job, Lin. With everything. And I love you so, so much."

"I love you too, Mother," Lin had sobbed, trying to take her in as much as possible in these last moments. "I'll miss you so much." Lin had truly dissolved then.

"Hey, now, don't cry, my little badgermole," Mother had wiped the tears from under her eyes just as she had done when Lin was a baby. She pulled Lin to her, tucking her under her chin, kissing the top of her head just as she had always done. "Don't bother missing me because I'm not going anywhere, really. I'll just be in a different place and I might look a little different. But I'll be there, always. If you're ever upset, just look for me in the hum in the earth. That'll be me."

Lin nodded.

"You know what to do, kiddo. You'll be just fine."

"I love you, Mother," Lin choked for what she knew would be the last time.

"Oh, and I love you, Lin. More than anything."

Neither of them had said a thing after that. Nothing more needed to be said. Mother sat with her hand over Lin's heart and Lin knew she was feeling it and listening to it as she had always done. Lin sat with her mother, tucked under her chin, just as they had always done, until her last, soft, ragged breath left her and she fell still. Lin didn't move even then. Just sat there and sobbed against her mother's quiet chest. Aunt Katara eventually came to gather Lin up and move her.

"She wants to be somewhere with earth," Lin had gasped. Katara had known exactly what she meant.

"We wouldn't have her anywhere else. Sokka's already drawn something. It's all stone, even the decoration and the writing. He said it should be something she'd be able to see."

Lin nodded, tearful. They buried her a short walk outside the village. Sokka showed her what to build, and Lin had bended it. She had to dig far, far under the ice and permafrost to get to the stone. But she found it. The thing nearly resembled a temple. It was a ways off the ground, so that snow couldn't build up in it too much, and had a roof for the same reason. There were pictures on the walls, of the first earthbenders, of all of Mother's friends, plenty of Mother in a nod to the slight narcissistic streak she had always had, and almost as many of Lin. They were all carved in stone, so Mother could see them. And outside, there were a series of large, heavy boulders ringed around it, standing like earthen sentinels. Lin did spend a month in the Southern Water Tribe, as she had promised. She spent most of her days here, hands and freezing, bare feet pressed to the stone, comforted by the hum that rang through it. Although, she didn't spend every minute here. Mother had known what she was talking about. It was a good place to grieve, if there was such a thing. The tribe was a close-knit, familiar sort of place and it had a warmth to it that was just like the one that Lin had always loved Aunt Katara for. People took care of one another here. Lin found some comfort here, with Katara and Sokka, who needed some comforting of their own from her. It was just them now, just as it had been before, when they were small. Katara and Sokka, siblings in the Southern Water Tribe. Time didn't pass normally here. People didn't worry so keenly about schedules. They worried about people. Who was alright and who needed help. That was the only schedule that mattered. People went about their business with an ease that Lin thought she liked. The days and nights here rocked in a steady, easy, flowing rhythm like water lapping against the icy shoreline. There were many days where Lin barely spoke at all. Her Aunt and Uncle didn't press her. They quietly took care of her. There were many nights they had to come and take her home after she had fallen asleep pressed against the stone of the earthen temple. But there were days that they did coax a reaction of some sort out of her. Some days she cried. Sobbed nearly all day, either cuddled up with Aunt Katara or with her forehead pressed to Uncle Sokka's shoulder. They often cried with her for a time, missing their friend as keenly as Lin missed her. Some days they just talked. One night in particular, they all laughed until no one could breathe properly, telling the funniest stories about Mother they could remember. There were quite a few of them. With a personality like hers, it was bound to happen.

"I don't know if she ever told you this story, Lin, but when we were in the war, your mother and Sokka got the idea, while we were in the _Fire Nation_ of all places, that they were going to use your mother's bending to out-scam all the scammers in the particular city we were in."

"I think she did tell me this one."

"Well if she didn't, I'm telling it now. She was all over the place with it. Every shady game in the city. And of course, everyone thought they had her, with her being so small and so clearly blind. Spirits, I think she doubled the fortune she already had that week."

"And then we started making up our own scams," Sokka had laughed. "She got the bright idea that we'd fake it like she got run over by an ostrich-horse cart. She earthbended this little bump in the road and then just laid down on the ground and let me act like he had permanently injured this poor little blind girl. We got paid more than that man's house was probably worth."

"And then I decided it was a good idea to join her."

"After you yelled at her, told her it was a bad idea, and you both got into a wrestling match about it."

"What?!"

"Yeah, your mother had her elbow halfway to Katara's face when we stopped them. So then Katara thinks it's a great idea to turn Toph in for money because she's now wanted in this city. So they put them both in prison."

"Aunt Katara, you're not good at breaking rules, are you?"

"No! I was just trying to be nice to her and then she got us both in jail! But I broke us out with sweat bending."

"With what?!"

"I started running in place so I would sweat and broke us out with waterbending."

"How did Mother ever decide that law enforcement was a good idea?"

"None of us ever figured that out, sweetie. We think she just liked ordering people around and then eventually figured that laws were at least a little important. She was a hellion when we were young."

"Just when you were young?" Lin had smirked.

"Okay, she was a hellion her entire life."

"She was nuts," Sokka laughed. "She'd do anything. She destroyed a house in Ba Sing Se when we were stuck there waiting for the Earth King to respond. In the upper ring, too."

"In the upper ring?!"

"Yup. Knocked the entire left wall clean off it. You know she loved causing trouble. She used to try to get me to laugh during trials I was presiding over. She'd be in the back, with her officers, making faces at me. And of course, she only did it when she could tell that I was looking in her direction. I laughed during a murder conviction once because of her."

"Sokka, you didn't tell me that!" Katara giggled.

"Yeah. She was picking her nose in the back!"

"Ew," Lin cackled.

"Yeah, and then she flicked it at one of her officers and I couldn't help myself. I started laughing in the middle of a murder conviction. I almost got fired."

"She was so cocky on purpose, just to piss people off."

"Oh trust me, I know. I asked her when I was little if she thought I'd ever be a better earthbender than her. She said, 'Of course not, Linny. You'll be second best.'"

"Spirits," Katara laughed, eyes screwed shut.

"I know," Lin snorted.

"She used to not count me in things during the war because I wasn't a bender," Sokka groaned. "'Three, plus Sokka.'"

"Oh yes, one of the last things she made sure she told me was that she wanted a statue because Aang had gotten one. She wants me to put it on Headquarters. So I get to do that immediately upon coming back, because you know she'll haunt me if I don't."

Katara rolled her eyes.

"Toph would've asked you to put hers _next_ to Aang's in Yue Bay and make it bigger than his if she thought she could've gotten away with it."

"Trust me, I'm aware. But it wasn't another blind joke, so I didn't complain."

"Oh, the blind jokes," Sokka groaned, laughing to the point of tears. "And she always fooled me, too! I don't know how she did it!"

"They were funny, though," Katara reminisced. "I liked the one she made in the desert, looking for the library. We were looking for a certain building, Lin, and your mother just pointed and went, 'Look, there it is!' And we all fell for it for a minute. It wasn't as funny then, but now I like it."

"Didn't she make one right after Lin was born?"

"Of course she did," Katara rolled her eyes. "You weren't even a minute old, Lin. I hadn't even cleaned you up, I hadn't even cut the cord, I just handed you to her. And she says, 'Ew, she looks kinda ugly.' And I look up and say, 'Toph, no she isn't!' and then I realize that she's laughing at me and she's made another damn blind joke. She's just been handed her daughter for the first time and she's making a blind joke about it."

Lin could not contain it. She doubled over in silent laughter. They had laughed far into the night, to the point of tears. Lin wondered sometimes if the tears where from how hard she was laughing or how hard she missed mother. But it helped. It was as if Mother was just in the next room, planning some other debauchery. She went to sleep that night smiling a sad smile, but it was a smile nonetheless.

_**Hope you all enjoyed Chapter 5! As always, drop by and leave a review and tell me what you thought! Until next time!**_

_**~Belmione**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing of course.**_

After a month, both Lin and Sokka returned to Republic City. Katara had wished them well, and fussed over the both of them for at least ten minutes before she would let them get on the bison. But finally, they landed back in Republic City, on Air Temple Island of all places. She never saw Tenzin or Pema, although she did catch a glimpse of their daughter toddling around. The child stopped in front of her for a moment, staring, before calmly moving on. Lin left the Island quickly. She wanted to go back home.

It was difficult, at first. Seeing the office she shared with Mother suddenly empty. Lin kept expecting her to walk around the corner. Having people calling her "Chief," when that was supposed to be Mother's title. Seeing the gold badge on her chest instead of adorning Mother's headband. Lin did as she was asked about the statue. She made a small joke about it the first meeting she had with her officers after Mother died.

"Well, the first order of business is a matter of great import. The late Chief Bei Fong told me on her very deathbed to give you all this message."

Everyone had leaned forward.

"She has ordered-"

Her officers' eyebrows rose when she paused.

"That she must have a statue outside the building because, quote, "Twinkletoes, which was her nickname for Avatar Aang, got one. I want one. Make it the focal point of the building."

The room had erupted in laughter. Lin smiled wryly too. She had a responsibility to these men. They had lost Mother, too. They had loved her, too. They looked about as lost as she was. Mother had been the Chief since Republic City was founded. And they were looking to her now, not only as their new Chief, but as the person who had loved and known Mother best. Lin had to help them feel better and move forward as best she could.

"She wasn't kidding in the slightest, of course. So I'll be sending a team of you who are more artistically inclined to start working on it. Find some good, clear, steel, put it above the entrance."

Lin had chuckled when she saw the statue. It was a very good likeness. But more importantly, it was grand and almost on the ostentatious side, which was exactly what Mother would've wanted. And it was, indeed, unmistakably the focal point of the building.

"Well, Mother, no one will be able to miss it. The first thing they'll see on the building is Toph Bei Fong."

Lin could imagine her response. "Good. That's how it should be."

As Mother had said, Lin slipped easily into the role of Chief. She had already been doing all the paperwork and most other business that came with it. It was just the final decisions that now came down to her where they used to be up to Mother. That and choosing new recruits. Now Lin was the metalbending and earthbending master and it was her job to teach them. And she knew, as time went on, that she had done exactly as she had wanted to do. She had wanted to help mother live on after she was gone. And when she ordered each bunch of new recruits to put their blindfolds on, and watched their eyes bug out, she knew she was doing just that as she held in a laugh.

Lin also tried to put her own mark on the force and on headquarters and on the way things were done. The first thing she did was equip the force with a fleet of police airships. The cables that they had strung about the city were fast, yes. But the airships were newer and faster and they needed to be able to respond to things as quickly as possible. Lin also learned that she was a bit of a stricter, unamused Chief than Mother had been. Not that Mother had ever been irresponsible or lax, but Mother had liked to tease some of the criminals that Lin didn't have the patience for. Mother would have made sarcastic jabs at them. Lin just told them to cut the crap.

Lin kept watching the city change. It was her city now. She had waited for the day that it would be her responsibility. Now, she would give a lot to go back. But she knew she couldn't. So she looked forward. She watched the city continue to industrialize. Those strange Satomobiles that had been introduced so many years back were now all over the city. The ostrich-horse drawn carts were replaced with noisy, quick, metal contraptions that tended to clog up the streets, but that also were much more efficient as far as Lin was concerned. Lin had just shaken her head, a melancholy weight on her face when dear, ancient Sokka finally passed. He had barely lasted a year after Mother. Lin suspected he wouldn't. She wasn't sure what kind of bond exactly Sokka and Mother had had, but she knew it had been close, and she had always known that when one passed, the other wouldn't be far behind. They had scattered his ashes in Yue Bay, at night under a full moon. Lin had looked at the moon and known that Sokka was finally with her. The beautiful spirit of the moon that he had told stories about all his life. And she tried to listen to what Mother had said and keep a lid on the abrasiveness around Tenzin. Pema had stood beside him, solemn, holding little Jinorra's hand, with their newborn daughter Ikki in her arms. Tenzin and Pema had cried, with hanging heads. Katara was, for the first time that Lin had ever seen, inconsolable. But Lin had no tears left. Not after Mother. She jutted her chin out, with an arm around Aunt Katara like Katara had done for her, and looked out across the bay, head level, with iron resolve.

Over the next years, Lin started investigating that rogue group that had cornered her and Mother that day. It was difficult to gather information on them. They all wore masks, so they couldn't be identified easily. Adapting to the technology they used was almost impossible because it changed and advanced all the time. Juggling that with trying to break up the bending triads had Lin working impossibly long shifts trying to coordinate it all. It was Lin who first identified the rogue group. It took two years. Two years of all but stalking the area of town she had run into them in, trailing the few she saw silently, interrogating the few she caught. But finally, one dropped a small stack of papers. Lin had been stalking the woman from above for hours after seeing her coming out of a known hideout. She bent to pick them up and Lin was on her so quickly the poor woman couldn't do anything but gasp, frightened. Lin had her bound up in seconds. She hauled her down to headquarters, with the entire stack of papers in hand as evidence. The younger woman had gone straight into an interrogation room. Lin let her stew there for a good half an hour before she came in.

"Why am I here? What are the charges?" the woman demanded immediately.

"Accessory to a crime. You were seen leaving a known hideout for a radical vigilante group. If vigilante justice is even what you're doing. Although, from what's in this file, it doesn't seem like it. Looks like you call yourselves the Equalists. Care to explain what this is all about?"

"I'm not saying a thing."

"That's fine, of course. But as it is, if you don't say anything, you'll be going to jail for a decently long time. If you do talk, I can guarantee that that sentence is not as long."

"How long?"

"Well, if you don't talk, you might be in here up to 12 years. Depends how much evidence is actually in this file. Considering how much information appears to be in here, it doesn't look good for you. If you talk, I can cut that down to four. Make your choice and make it quickly. I don't have all day."

"What do you want to know?"

"I want to know who you people are, what you want, and who your leader is."

"How would you be able to put me in here for 12 years?! Someone would've had to commit murder for me to be in here that long as an accessory," the woman had smiled smugly. "And we haven't killed anyone."

"Oh, but you have. And the only ones who know who it was are sitting below us in a cell where they've been for almost three years. It would not pain me at all for you to join them."

The woman's eyes widened.

"I...o-okay. We call ourselves the Equalists. We're a non-bender protest group. What we want is equality between benders and non-benders. We're tired of being terrorized by triads in the outskirts of the city. Where was the police force when the triple threats destroyed my home?! We're tired of not having the jobs that benders have. When the whole city runs on bending, we have nowhere to go! All the influential council members are benders! And _everyone_ on the police force is a bender! We're tired of you benders preaching equality when it's clear you don't care about us!"

"And your leader?"

"He calls himself Amon. I've never seen him."

Lin nodded.

"Well, thank you for the information. It was...enlightening.

Lin had sighed that night, looking towards headquarters from the small apartment she had just a few blocks away. She could just make out Mother's statue from her window. She had an uneasy feeling about these Equalists. She wondered what Mother would've done. Benders in the area kept going missing, the group resisted arrest, striking back with gas and knives. They were just as much of a threat as the Triad. Things were so out of balance and Lin wasn't sure how to help things.

For years, Lin kept watching for signs of Equalist activity. She couldn't track down much other than the occasional busting of a training facility or the stray bit of information here and there. But Lin knew they were up to something. They were planning something on a large scale. She just had yet to understand what it was.

When Lin heard that a rogue water tribe girl had managed to round up the Triple Threat Triad on her own, she had been impressed, if not a little miffed. She had no time for vigilantes. But when she also heard about the damage that the girl had done to that block of downtown Republic City, she had been more than annoyed. And when the officer who had brought her in said, "She says her name's Korra-" Lin had growled. She remembered the girl vaguely. She had only seen her once or twice in passing while staying in the Southern Water Tribe for that month, but Katara had told her who she was. She knew Korra wouldn't remember her. The girl had been pretty young then, and Lin hadn't interacted with her at all. And now she was in Lin's city smashing up shops, particularly non-benders' shops, which was not at all what Lin needed right now. She and the council were at their wit's end with how tense and unstable things were right now between benders and non-benders. What she needed was peace and diplomacy. What she had gotten was a 17 year old, reckless, inexperienced Avatar galavanting around the city painting a pretty poor picture of benders. She was supposed to be a mediator, for Spirits' sake!

Lin was not impressed with the girl, to say the least. Lin _had_ been mildly excited to meet Aang's successor, until she had heard what the girl had done. And meeting her hadn't helped much. The girl was stubborn and reckless with a penchant for thinking she knew better than anyone else. She was the opposite of Aang. And they _needed_ someone like Aang right now. Of course, Tenzin had to stick his nose in it, too. This was all his fault, anyway. He was supposed to be supervising her. He was her airbending teacher, after all. But Lin had learned one thing over the years. That if she wanted something done right, she would have to do it. She couldn't trust anyone else to do it right. She had been able to trust Mother, but very few other than her. So, of course Lin got saddled with dealing with the Avatar. Thankfully, Tenzin took her off Lin's hands and offered to cover the damage for the entire block of downtown that was in shambles.

"Get her out of my city," Lin spat, and she meant it. She needed the Avatar to stay out of it until they could get things under control. She obviously couldn't trust her to show any restraint, so until then, Lin needed her back in the Southern Water Tribe where she belonged.

Of course, Tenzin never had been able to commit to anything. The next day, Tenzin told her that the Avatar was staying in Republic City, and was asking her to be there at a press conference to make sure no harm befell the young Avatar.

"Tenzin, show some resolve and send her back home! She's too young and too inexperienced for this! Republic City is not stable enough for this right now. She needs to go home."

"Lin, I think she should stay. We're trying to keep Father's legacy alive in this city and she _is_ his legacy."

"You'll kill his legacy if you let her stay. That foolish girl is not his legacy, this city that took our parents, and us decades to build is! I have a bad feeling about all of this. If the Avatar stays, things are going to get very tense."

"Lin, I've made my decision."

"Of course you have. And as usual, I'm dealing with the consequences."

"Lin-"

"I'll be there. I obviously can't leave you two alone."

As Lin predicted, the Avatar's very public presence in the city did nothing to help things. The Equalist activity skyrocketed almost overnight. All that had happened was a polarization between benders and non-benders. Before she knew it, that weasel Tarrlok had some sort of gala in the Avatar's honor. And of course she had to be there for that, too, to make sure nothing erupted there. He was busy creating some sort of anti-Equalist task force, separate from the police. And she knew he was trying to get the Avatar on the task force, which was a dangerous move. Even without her, the task force would alienate non-benders. But with her, it could be the spark that jolted the Equalists into action. Lin had tried to help her shake Tarrlok off. She told her that she had done nothing to deserve this ridiculous party. She was trying to give her a hint. She hadn't been in the city long enough to warrant a gala in her honor. Anyone honest wouldn't be throwing a party devoted just to her. Tarrlok was obviously trying to force her into his ridiculous task force. But the Avatar hadn't taken the hint and ended up stumbling into it anyway. And in the mean time, her officers were uncovering crate after crate of Equalist weapons and propaganda in basements and warehouses all across the city.

So when their leader, Amon, had called for the shutting down of the bending arena, Lin was sure that he _wanted_ to scare them into doing just that. She wasn't sure what his plans were after that, but she knew she wasn't about to play right into his hands. She knew the council were coward enough to vote to shut things down, and she knew that the Avatar would protest it, if Lin knew her well enough. So she followed her. She was nearly too late, and had to stop the gavel in midair with a quick and sharply aimed cable. But she knew that Republic City needed to put the Equalists in their place. However valid their complaints might've been, they were terrorizing the people of Republic City. Benders or not, if anyone in Lin's city was threatened, she would do everything in her power to stop the culprits for good.

Lin had never had a place covered more thoroughly. So she felt especially guilty and stupid when the Equalists bested her. She had done just what she had been trying to avoid. She never saw it coming until she was waking up on the ground of the bending arena, feeling the familiar strange sting of electricity still pulsing a little in her muscles, to feel and hear the explosion on the main stage of the arena. She had been trying to keep everyone safe, and now a quarter of the population of the city was stuck in an arena that had just been bombed. Lin had had enough. She dragged herself up, watching the leader, Amon, the one in the mask, get dragged up through the broken glass ceiling. She had to get him. The next thing she saw was the Avatar, trying to propel herself after him with a veritable typhoon behind her. She knew that Amon had to be taken down just as much as Lin did. She came up short. She couldn't get high enough. But Lin could. She barely caught her before she fell, but Lin swooped in, cable looping around the Avatar's midsection. And before she really thought about it, she mustered up what strength she had and, with a flick of the cable, slung her right up through the ceiling. The time for diplomacy was over. Lin needed Amon brought to justice and she needed whatever help she could get. And if Korra wanted to help, Lin would let her. Maybe she'd learn a little something and get rid of some of that naiveté on the way. Lin wasn't far behind her. She wasn't letting that man out of her sight. And thank the Spirits Lin had had the presence of mind, or maybe lack thereof, to bring Korra up here with her. She would've been taken if not for her. The Equalists' new electric weapons were all-too effective on her metal armor. Lin watched the Avatar fight. She was a powerful bender. Lin smirked. For one born in the Water Tribe, she sure did love firebending. And she had given Lin a clear shot at Amon. Lin was almost in the Equalist airship when the glass under Korra shattered. Lin had just enough time to see Amon's mask, to be close enough to touch him, to bring him down, before she dropped. She had to. However inexperienced the Avatar was, it wouldn't do to lose her now. An inexperienced Avatar was better than no Avatar. Lin had to dive, in a free-fall to get to her on time. She very nearly didn't. But just in time, Lin managed to swing them both into the stands. They had given it their all, Lin mused, trying to quell the guilt in her chest. Especially the Avatar. That girl was tough as nails. Lin decided then that maybe Korra wasn't too bad. But she didn't have much time to think about that. She had put a large portion of the city in danger that night because of her poor judgement and now things with Amon had exploded. Lin knew it would be a fight to keep the city from going into war.

When they found enough Equalist weapons to supply an arsenal in Cabbage Corp, the only corporation big enough to rival Future Industries, Lin knew things were about to get ugly. Whatever they had been planning steadily over the last decade was about to erupt. It was just a matter of where and when it would be and how devastating it would be. When Korra had insisted that Sato was in on it all and had framed Cabbage Corp, Lin was skeptical. But she also wanted this Equalist business quashed and soon. A week ago, she would've told the Avatar to get out of her sight before she arrested her. But after how she fought at the bending arena, Lin couldn't help but trust her just a little bit. Sato had a motive. So Lin searched his warehouses, putting her faith in Korra. And when that wasn't successful, Lin had cursed under her breath. She couldn't afford another slip-up like this. Which was what was exasperating about the anonymous tip they got about an underground warehouse under the Sato mansion. If she pursued it and was wrong, she would be fired. Fired as the Chief of Police. Lin wasn't sure what to do. What would Mother say? Lin had smiled a little. She could nearly hear her.

"Well, kiddo, what do you think? Do you think this is right? If you think there might be something there, go ahead and search the mansion. It's not the title that counts, kid. It's the end result. If you don't feel like the city is safe _without_ searching the mansion, that should tell you something."

So Lin had done it. She nearly laughed when her officers told her that there was no secret workshop. Hadn't she told them it was underground? Had they learned anything from her? And some of the older ones had trained under Mother, for Spirits sake! Lin cut her eyes at them and immediately retracted the sole of her boot and slammed her bare foot down on the titanium panel below her. There was indeed a warehouse below it. A big one, with what looked like some pretty elaborate weapons. She had wasted no time in bending the metal panel off of the tunnel.

Lin supposed she should've known it was a trap. But these Equalists were crafty. They had managed to get her at every turn. And if they didn't get her, then she was bound by Republic City politics. And suddenly she had found herself stuck, barricaded in Hiroshi Sato's underground workshop with Tenzin and Korra and almost all of her best officers. She tried to metalbend herself out, but nothing budged. She growled. And when Sato had told her that not even Mother could've bended the solid platinum that the walls and mecha-tanks were made out of, Lin couldn't help but scoff a little. It wouldn't have mattered, and Sato would've known that if he had known Mother at all. She still could've buried him without metalbending. And Lin was going to try her damnedest to, too. She managed to take a few of them down before she was thrown off of one. The last thing she remembered was hitting ground, hard. Woke up just in time for the Avatar's two friends, the firebender and the earthbender on her pro-bending team, to rush them all out. Lin had had it. She was tired of being played on two sides. Tarrlok and his politics on one side, and Amon on the other. And she had just lost her officers to it all. For the second time that night, Lin wondered what Mother would tell her to do, although she knew the answer already. She would tell Lin to do whatever she had to do to protect the city. Lin was too limited by all the rules and politics. She had to be able to act the way she knew she needed to. She had failed as Chief. She hadn't been able to protect her city, its citizens, or even her officers as Chief. So she would do what she had to to rectify it. Not as Chief of Police, but as Lin. The next morning, Lin handed in her resignation. Everything she had worked for since she was tiny, gone. But it wasn't worth staying if she couldn't do the one thing she wanted to do more than be Chief of Police. And that was protect Republic City.

Lin hadn't been in the hospital for two days when she heard on the radio that Korra was missing. She wasted no time. She was up and out of bed, although it was no small task with broken ribs, with her armor on before the announcer finished his sentence. She looked down sadly at Mother's badge pinned on her chest. She hadn't turned it over to Saikhan. It had been Mother's. He could wear a new one. She'd never give it up. She couldn't wear it anymore, though. She placed it safely among her things, tucked away. She had said goodbye to that part of Mother's legacy. But she could uphold the other part. She smirked a little. Mother had so loved breaking rules and causing some havoc. Lin thought it was high time she did the same.

And true to what she had heard of Mother's younger self, the first thing she did was break the Avatar's friends out of jail before bringing them all straight to Tenzin's. They were finding Korra and her officers before the day was out if Lin had anything to do with it. Lin had almost everything to do with it. They never would've found the hideout without her seismic sense. She almost told them all to go home and let her do it all because clearly they weren't needed. But she held it in. The Equalists were smart and slippery. This was no time to be cocky. They didn't find Korra in the Equalist hideout they had broken into, although Lin had found her officers. All of their bending, gone. All these men who she had trained, or who Mother had trained. All of these men who she'd watched get better and better. And it was gone. Lin was failing. She was trying to keep her promise to Mother, to protect the city. And every day, it seemed, she let something slip.

They did finally find Korra. Tarrlok had been a bloodbender. Mother had told her not to trust him. She had been right, just like she always was. He had bloodbent the poor girl and locked her up. But that polarbear dog of hers had found her, and carried her all the way back into the city, which was no small task. Lin had hoped with Tarrlok gone, that maybe Republic City would get a few days' rest. But when Korra told them that Amon had taken Tarrlok's bending, she knew that they wouldn't. He was bold enough to take a council member's bending. Amon would make a move on the city. Tenzin knew it too. There was no other way that he would ask her, with much stammering and long-winded explanation, to stay at Air Temple Island and watch over Pema and his three children. Lin would've said yes regardless. She was about to snap at him when she remembered what Mother had said. Not to hold a grudge against Tenzin. It had been so many years. And with everything that was at stake, Lin knew neither one of them needed any more animosity between them. It seemed like a good day to start listening to her Mother. So she had sighed, and smiled softly, and nodded. "Of course I'll help, old friend."

It wasn't an hour after Tenzin had left that Lin saw the Equalist airship coast towards the Island, its dark shadow running in an oblique line across the shoreline by Yue Bay. Lin ushered everyone inside as quickly as possible. And Pema had gone into labor, of all days. She really did know how to throw a monkey wrench into all of Lin's plans. Lin shook her head and waited, alone, for the ship to arrive, for the Equalist troops to invade. She knew there would be a lot of them, maybe more than she could handle. But she had to try. They couldn't get to the children. She had promised Tenzin. And moreover, she owed it to Aang. She wouldn't let his grandchildren, and the last three of four airbenders left, get captured by Amon. She stood, completely still, looking towards Aang's statue as the troops repelled down to the Island.

She almost had them, until Amon's Lieutenant got to her. She was sure they'd take her then. They'd take her bending. She had resigned herself to it when she saw a small glider in the air, felt a familiar sharp gust of air. Tenzin's children, one by one, came to fight by her, small and vulnerable, and surprisingly skilled. They weren't going to leave her alone, she realized, as they all stood, Jinora in particular, protective, in front of her. They were so like Aang, and Katara. And she supposed, like Tenzin.

They had had to run. Lin had known they would bring reinforcements, although she didn't have the heart to tell Tenzin immediately. She tried to give the family a moment to meet the new baby. But the Equalists ships were coming, and fast. Lin had never thought twice. If Tenzin and his children were trying to escape, she was going with them. Tenzin had tried to protest. But Lin silenced him quickly. "If you're leaving, then I'm coming with you. No arguments. You and your family are the last airbenders. There's no way I'm letting Amon take your bending away."

She had thought by taking Oogie when they did, that they had escaped. But Lin watched the Equalist airships loom, dark, behind them. The Equalists had found them and tracked them down, shooting nets at them. Their intent was clear. They didn't want to kill the airbenders. They wanted to make an example of them. They wanted to take their bending. Lin sliced one of the nets out of the air, steel cable wrapping around the rope attached to the net. It led straight to the airship. And for Lin, time stops for a moment.

It has all led to this, Lin thinks as she stands on the edge of Oogie's saddle. She realizes that now, in a rush of understanding. She wondered before, what it was all for. Mother sacrificing herself for her, especially when she had failed as Chief so miserably. Her working her entire life to get there, and being forced to let it all go. Lin looks back at them. Tenzin at the reins, terrified and protective eyes on his family. Pema, putting on the bravest face she can, with a tiny, wrinkled newborn in her arms. Rambunctious Meelo, happy and imaginative Ikki, kind and brave Jinorra. Aang working tirelessly to build that island for them, working to teach Tenzin about it all, Tenzin working to carry it on. She realizes. They are his life's work. And hers is to protect them. It has all led here. Even Mother's dying instead of her. Because Mother could see the knives coming where Lin couldn't. And in turn, she couldn't have done this. They are too high in the air and Mother wouldn't have been able to see to do this. She would have to have seeing eyes. And Lin does. Lin understands. She doesn't want to be there, where Pema is now. She thought at one time that she did. But now she realizes that there is nowhere else she'd rather be than where she is now. Being in Pema's place would require sitting back. Lin wants to give everything. She wants to act. This is what she is supposed to do, what she has worked towards since she could walk. She wants to make her mother proud. She doesn't want to sit there, passive, with a baby on her hip. She wants to fight until her body breaks from it, until there is no energy, no blood, no nothing left.

Lin knows she will not be coming back. She knows that these are her last moments. And she is not scared. She is too certain in this moment for fear. She closes her eyes with iron resolve.

"Whatever happens to me, don't turn back!"

"Lin, what are you doing?!"

It is Tenzin and his family that she is protecting, but it is not Tenzin she thinks of as she runs off the tail of the bison and leaps into space. Lin has always loved the air, has always been fascinated by it. She spent her childhood on the back on a flying bison, learning earthbending techniques from an airbender. The only man she has ever loved was like the air. Free and fresh and subtly beautiful. But Lin's place is not in the air. She loves it but it is not her. Lin's place is rooted to earth and supported by steel. It is Mother she thinks of as she flounders for a moment in the air before hitting the metal ship hard enough that the air is knocked out of her. Lin belongs with the earth, and really, Mother _was_ the earth. No one has ever understood it like she did, and Lin suspects that no one else ever will. So Lin thinks of her mother, because the earth is strength and endurance and bravery and substance and Lin needs a lot of all of those things in what she knows are her last breaths. She wonders briefly if Mother was as sure as she is now when she jumped in front of her the day she died, but she puts the thought aside. Of course she was. Because Bei Fongs are tough. Bei Fongs use restraint. Bei Fongs wait and listen, before they strike and strike hard. Bei Fongs don't back down, give all of themselves, never give up, are there to protect. Bei Fongs protect the ones they love. Bei Fongs survive. Bei Fongs sacrifice. And Bei Fongs know when it's time to leave. And Lin knows it is her time.

It doesn't take her anything to rip a hole in that ship larger than the statue of Aang she can see below. Lin wastes no time in leaping to the next ship as the one behind her falls out of the air, spiraling to the earth below as Lin rips a gash in this one, too. She waits to plummet out of the air to the earth, to her death, before the equalists hit her with a shock of electricity and she falls unconscious.

She had thought the hole in the second ship was big enough. But Lin realizes as she comes to that it did not sink like the first one did. There is no other way she would be alive. And she realizes what will happen to her now. She does not know how long she has. But they will take the earth away from her. They know that, for her, it is a fate worse than death. She is not awake for five minutes before they come to get her. They drag her out in the rain, and shove her to her knees. She is grateful for it. The closer she is to the earth in these last minutes, the better. Amon says he will let her keep her bending if she tells him where her airbenders are. She refuses, violently. Amon and his organization took her mother from her. And they are about to do it again. But she will let them do that before she lets them take the airbenders. And as he walks around to do it, she inhales, searching for it. She closes her eyes as she finds the hum in the earth. One tear escapes, blending with rain water, before the hum stops and the earth falls still and silent.

_**Hope you all enjoyed Chapter 6! As always, drop by and leave a review and tell me what you thought! There will be one chapter after this one, so keep on the lookout for Chapter 7! Until next time!**_

_**~Belmione**_


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